The Merciless Void
by AvengedFan
Summary: The story of siblings Jane and John Shepard, a Spectre and a Marine, in their struggle against the ruthless Collectors. On the way, they will find love where they never thought they would: In their comrades. FShep/Garrus, MShep/Tali. Rated M, since all my stories are.
1. Chapter 1

**Commander Jane Shepard - SSV Normandy  
**Jane tapped the datapad against her armored palm as she lost herself in thought. The 'best damn pilot in the Alliance Navy' sat in front of her, with Executive Officer Pressly to her left.

Her brother, down on in Engineering and hip deep in processing reports, was simply a Marine. She, however, was a Spectre and she decided where this ship went.

Jane Shepard was a taller woman, sliding in at five feet and nine inches. She was lithe, built for speed and shooting instead of all out fistfights. Her brother was more useful for those. She had shoulder-length hair that reminded her of the strawberries on Earth every time she looked in the mirror. Her green eyes had constantly been referred to by everyone on the ship as 'jade'. Time spent in the sun had turned her skin into a more natural bronze. She was armored in her typical black N7 armor, armed only with a pistol.

Jane had a sordid history behind her. She was ten years younger than her brother. Her brother had spent his life on ships and had been a new PFC when Shepard had been twelve. Shepard still remembered the colony they'd visited and the batarians who had swept through and killed all the people who had resisted. Her mother and father had been among them. Jane was one of many children grabbed and pulled aboard a ship.

Unfortunately for the batarians, their attack had been a little too close to Alliance space. There had been a patrol in the area that had disabled the ships, wiped out the batarians, then gone their separate ways. John had been on the ship and after hearing the news, still had the presence of mind to squirrel her away, knowing full well where Jane would go if she was found.

From there, she'd been under his careful care, but the death of his parents had changed him. He'd become colder and mean, where he used to be aloof and genuinely pleasant. He always had a soft spot for her, though. She'd abused that trust several times, something she still regretted fifteen years later.

At the age of eighteen, she'd joined the Marines and made her way through the ranks quickly before being commissioned into the N7 program. It had been the proudest moment of her career. At least, until a posting on Elysium. Jane had been forced to hold off a batarian blitz by herself, winning the battle after three long hours of combat by herself. John had been at her awards ceremony, a sad smile on his face. He'd been the only person there who understood how broken she was and had a long conversation with her, afterwards. It'd saved her life.

Her brother, now a Staff Sergeant, had then led a platoon in the battle on Torfan as retaliation for the Skyllian Blitz. The platoon had been whittled down to nearly nothing by the time he'd been finished, but they'd slaughtered every batarian on the moon, even those who'd surrendered. He'd earned the name "Butcher of Torfan" for his actions and that had been the point where Jane had become truly concerned for his well being. That had been a year before Saren.

When she'd first gotten the commission of a Spectre, she'd immediately abused her power for the first and (in her eyes) only time. Jane had torn Staff Sergeant John Shepard from his Platoon Sergeant billet on Tiptree and had him transferred under her command. He'd been furious, dragged kicking and screaming to the _SSV Normandy_, but he'd eventually come around.

_And not a moment too soon. _

Jane still vividly recalled the maneuver he'd pulled on Noveria, pulling all of their asses out of the fire single-handedly during the fight with Matriarch Benezia. That had been the point where Jane Shepard had stopped treating him like an insubordinate underling, finally accepting that she needed him there as much for combat support as for emotional support. While his hardline demeanor hadn't changed during the entire duration of their mission against Saren, he'd become the most valuable person she had on this ship. He hadn't been the only to change, either.

The first one had been Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. Shepard felt a smile touch her face as she thought about how far the Marine had come since Noveria. She'd been a xenophobe, an attitude that was almost understandable when Jane realized that she was treated differently in the military due to her grandfather's surrender to aliens. While she hadn't come to trust the aliens on the ship implicitly, she was now able to hold a conversation with Wrex or Garrus without hostility. Progress was progress.

Lieutenant Alenko had been difficult during his time on the ship. Jane knew he harbored a secret interest in her, one that he'd been very reluctant to share. Jane wasn't interested and hadn't strung the man along, crushing his infatuation the moment he'd worked up the nerve to bring it up. It had been cruel and she knew it, but it spared him pain further on down the line. Quite frankly, she had no interest in being romantically involved with any of the crew. As far as she knew, John was the exact same.

Not that she didn't regret his death on Virmire. It had been a hard choice and before the trip to Ilos, John had shown up at her cabin and assured her that she'd done everything and that she'd be alright. He left immediately after, but her gruff brother's words had done the trick.

Their first acquisition after that had been Garrus Vakarian, a C-Sec officer. Jane still wasn't sure whether he'd joined out of a desire to help or out of sheer hatred of the rules of C-Sec. The turian had been a huge help, his sharpshooting skills outpacing Ash's by a mile. Then he'd come up against Dr. Saleon. Jane had simply brought John along and nobody else when she'd helped Garrus to find the disgusting salarian. She knew Garrus had wanted to kill the man and had left Garrus alone with him, after telling him to make the right choice. She could still feel the disappointment she'd felt when she'd heard the gunshot in the room, followed by a self-satisfied Garrus stepping out.

Next up had been Urdnot Wrex. He and John had become fast friends, almost brothers in a sense. The gruff krogan had joined on to make a difference, whether he'd admit it or not. He was older than John and Jane by centuries, but his motive was so simple. He was tired of being a mercenary, tired of selling himself out to run down gamblers and criminals. Jane had thought him a completely emotionless killing machine, until they'd helped him get his family armor. He'd referred to it as 'a rusted hunk of shit', but she'd seen emotion in those crimson eyes that she knew full well. Not to mention the standoff he'd had with John on Virmire.

Tali had been next up, with even Jane surprised at how useful the upbeat young quarian woman had ended up being. They'd found her just in time to see her bring down a pair of Fist's assassins with a grenade, followed by her getting out of the way to allow the rest of the team to cut the thugs down. Her help against the geth had been invaluable and she'd been so perpetually endearing that Jane found it impossible not to talk to the girl every time she was there. Still, the young woman had certainly held up her end of the bargain and though she knew John wasn't fond of her, he'd begrudgingly admitted the substantial part she played in the fight and given her the geth data to complete her Pilgrimage himself.

Lastly, there'd been Liara. Jane felt the a frown settle on her face as she thought about how much the naive asari doctor had changed since coming aboard. It hadn't necessarily been a good change. Slowly, in a buildup that concluded with her mother's death of Feros, the woman had become increasingly embittered to the galaxy. Jane was personally of the opinion that there weren't enough well-meaning, innocent people in the galaxy and she privately lamented the loss of another one. She still wasn't quite comfortable with the feelings towards John that she knew the asari hid very well.

Hell, though Joker had remained the same, even the xenophobic XO Pressly had grown much more tolerant of the aliens aboard since the beginning of Jane's command. She'd sat him down several times, including a time she nearly took his head off for making Tali cry.

_Hell, _Jane lamented, _I want to cry, right now._

Most of that emotion was directed towards their current mission. The crew of the Normandy knew that Sovereign, the Reaper who'd nearly destroyed the Citadel, had only been the start. There were a full thousand of his fellow abominations headed towards them from dark space and Jane didn't imagine any of them going down easier. So what did the Council send her to do?

_Hunt down pockets of geth resistance. _She groaned to herself, _That's what._

She could actually be doing something important, like securing the galaxy against the greatest enemy it would ever know. The only thing that made the ridiculousness of their situation bearable was that John was equally enraged at the Council. She still remembered the choice words her temperamental older brother had thrown at the asshole Councilors. She was amazed that Councilor Tevos hadn't fainted from the shock.

"A lot of Alliance ships went missing in this area." Joker pointed out, "They had to go somewhere."

Jane liked Joker. He spoke his mind when he could and shut up when he knew he had to shut up. He'd been one of the few men on the crew who hadn't (to her knowledge) overtly flirted with her in the hopes of getting in her pants. The physically impaired pilot had proven an extremely valuable asset to the team. His bravery in leading the charge against Sovereign had been noted by many higher-ups. When offered a position as helmsmen of bigger, more important ships, he'd instantly declined. Jane had been proud and even John had bought the man a drink.

"My bet is batarian slavers." XO Pressly said, "Terminus system is crawling with them."

_That doesn't work. _I thought. _Batarian slavers are armed, but they can't take on a military craft._

"Maybe if they were civilian vessels." I said, "But even an Alliance frigate could stand up to a small group of batarian pirate vessels. Most Alliance ships move in fleets."

"We-" He started, but was immediately cut off by the girl to Jane's left. To her embarrassment, she still didn't know the new Ensign's name, though a lot of that came from the fact that the girl had only been transferred in yesterday, at the start of this scouting trip.

"We have a ship in system." She replied. "Dreadnaught-class, if size is to be believed."

Jane felt surprise at the presence of another ship and did some quick thinking. She read plenty on each race's individual ship types and what kind of ground and naval power each had. So, she started down the list.

_The geth and quarians don't have legitimate dreadnaughts. _She thought. _The turians, Alliance, asari and salarians wouldn't be out in the Terminus systems. Pirates and vorcha don't have ships of that size. Krogan don't have ships at all and I doubt the rachni have rebuilt quickly enough to have dreadnaughts. Batarians wouldn't be sending dreadnaughts out this far unless they intended to use them in a full-scale battle. _

Which left...nobody. Jane had no idea who could be behind them.

"Pressly." Jane ordered. "Pass orders down for everyone to be alert and ready. Joker, swing us around to-"

"Ship locked on us." The Ensign interrupted, her formerly cool voice now tinged with panic, "It's on intercept trajectory."

"What?!" Pressly yelled, "Our stealth systems are engaged! Even the geth can't-"

"It's not the geth." Joker said quietly. Something in his voice told Jane that things were about to go very wrong. She knew that he probably had no idea who was dogging them. She trusted in his instincts, though. She could tell by the tone of his voice that his instincts were screaming at him. She grabbed hold of the top of Pressly's chair. "Brace for evasive maneuvers!"

It was too late, though. A blast rocked the ship, the sheer force throwing Jane backwards and off her feet. She heard an explosion in the cockpit she had just occupied and felt panic overcoming her as she worked to get back to her feet.

_Joker! _

She looked up to see the pilot at his chair, Pressly and the Ensign lying burned and dead behind him. He was yelling into the intercom and she could distantly hear his voice past the ringing in her ears, though she couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Joker!" She yelled, hoping he could understand her, "Tell them to abandon ship!"

Whoever this enemy was, it was way too strong for them. Joker hadn't even been able to turn to face the dreadnaught and it had already torn right through their shields and started working on the hull. She heard his muffled voice yelling orders as she groped around and found her helmet lying on the deck. She pulled it to herself and shoved it on to her head, fingers fumbling for the locks. She found them and quickly engaged them, just as a small pressure on her body informed her there'd been a hull breach.

_I hope John's alright._

Jane managed to find her feet and she pushed on to the cockpit, aware of the explosions rippling in the decks beneath her feet. She could heard the distant alarms, though the alarms were muffled in the void that was first deck. Her vision was blurry and unfocused, but she could see what was going on around her well enough.

"C'mon baby." Joker was saying as she crossed the blue barrier sealing the pilot off from the rest of the deck. Even despite the barrier, he'd had the sense to put on his mask, the small blue rebreather covering his mouth and nose. His hands were flying across the controls and Jane could see the stars in front of the cockpit shielding pitching and dancing as Joker maneuvered the ship. "Hold together, hold together."

Though she knew it wasn't his intention, he was giving people on the pods time to get away. Jane spotted a small fire near the chair caused by blown circuitry. She ripped a fire extinguisher from the bulkhead and began to spray down the fire, when a transmission came over her comms system.

"Jane!" Tali yelled, her high-pitched voice startling her, "I tried to save him, but your brother...I couldn't hold onto him."

"Dammit!" She heard Joker yell as he narrowly dodged another golden beam of light. He might as well have been a million miles away, the horror consuming Jane too much for her to pay attention to anything else.

"Couldn't hold onto..." She tried to repeat, unable to process it. She knew what had to have happened. John must've been spaced.

_If his suit holds, _She thought to herself, _I might be able to get to him. _

The thought encouraged the N7 Operative, who tried to regain her senses as she yelled back over the channel.

"Tali!" Jane yelled, "Get to a pod, now! I'll try to pick him up on the way out."

"Got it." Tali said, sounding immensely relieved. Jane looked behind her to see the remains of the Normandy's command deck. It was in pieces, the chairs of the navigation crew floating in the narrow bridge as railing and expensive equipment was strewn in the circular space that had been her galaxy map. There was a hole ripped straight in the ceiling over the remnants of the galaxy map. She saw a figure headed their way slowly, though she couldn't tell who it was.

"Joker," Jane urged, "We need to go."

"The Normandy isn't lost!" He yelled back, the small man's green eyes on her's. "I can still save her!"

The mystery man finally materialized behind them. Garrus Vakarian rushed into the cockpit. Like all turians, Garrus was the slightest bit intimidating. He was taller than her, standing well over six feet tall. With his helmet on, Jane had a hard time telling what his expression was under the visor. She could imagine the calculating blue eyes sweeping the room, the thoughts of the C-Sec officer as he surveyed the situation.

"Why aren't you two off the ship?!" He yelled, his flanged voice incredulous and angry. "Everybody else is gone!"

"The ship is disintegrating around us!" Jane yelled back to Joker, "Going down with the ship won't help that. Come on!"

He stopped what he was doing, his head hanging so low that she though the brim of his baseball cap would brush his chest.

"You're...you're right." He said, "Help me up."

Garrus and Jane rushed to grab him, handling him as gently as they could while pulling him out of the chair.

"Gah!" He yelled, nearly shrinking back at their touch, "Watch the arm."

They all heard something at the console, a shrill alarm that could wake a drunken sailor.

"It's coming around for another pass!" Joker yelled. Garrus and Jane opened the airlock next to the cockpit, tossing him inside the escape pod waiting there. Garrus went next and Jane was about to go when there was a sudden explosion at the nearby bulkhead.

Jane was slammed into the bulkhead opposite and felt her world nearly go black as she caught hold of the corner of the bridge. She could see the pod override control right in front of her. She saw Garrus struggling to get out of the pod and help her.

_It's too late._

She pulled her pistol and fired at him wildly with one hand, forcing the turian back from the escape pod door. Then she slammed a hand on the control. With a hiss of hydraulics, the pod doors closed and she watched it launch from the airlock.

There were no more pods, not any that she'd be able to get to. With the mystery ship coming around for another attack, there was no way she'd make it. She let go of the wall as another explosion forced her away from the ship. Her back slammed into the deck of the bridge and she bounced up into the empty void that had been bored into her ship.

She watched the _SSV Normandy_ from afar as she floated in the peaceful, cold embrace of the void. She saw the escape pods jumping out of the system, one by one, having gained enough distance to get away and make the short jumps to a friendly system that they were programmed to make in the event of an abandoned ship.

Jane watched the ship, a long bulbous ship she'd never seen before in her life, slice through the _Normandy _with another laser. This time, she saw it cut right through to the core and the Normandy exploded, forcing her even further away. The blossom of flame was quickly squelched, the vacuum of space having no place for it. She felt dozens of tiny cuts as pieces of the ship were propelled past her. Immediately, she felt her breath starting to leave her.

Jane didn't panic, knowing full well that it was over. She looked down towards the orange planet she was slowly being pushed towards. She saw a figure ahead of her, one she knew full well from the outline and familiar Predator armor.

_No. _She lamented, feeling tears roll down her cheek as she watched the man's unmoving body descend into the atmosphere she was rushing towards. Her lungs burned and her sight dimmed. _Brother...at least-_a gasp-_At least it was beautiful out here. We...we..._

With one last gasp, Jane Shepard finally asphyxiated, going still as her body transcended the merciless void and entered the atmosphere of the uncaring orange planet.

**_So, I'm making another one! This one won't be as dark and grim as "At Civilization's End", but it'll still be on the more serious side. As always, I love getting reviews, so please let me know what you all think._**

_**Also, as a disclaimer, the core plot will stay the same, but there will be variations and tie-ins with my other fic (Since that's kinda the way I want the story to go).  
**_

_**Lastly, I will be ratcheting up the badassery of the supporting characters a bit. I know every one of us was disappointed when Jack punched out three heavy mechs in her intro and quite literally tore apart entire rooms the size of baseball fields, then gets killed by a flea when you take her out to fight. I'll also be endeavoring to make some of them slightly more interesting (Jacob).**_

**_Anyways, enjoy._**


	2. Chapter 2

**The Illusive Man - Cerberus Headquarters**

Alone the human sat, scrutinizing screens in front of him as he planned his next set of orders. In the dark room, the only source of light came from the ball of multi-color energy in the system behind him. A strong, experienced hand gripped a tumbler of bourbon while the other held a half-smoked cigarette. Thin trails of smoke lazily stretched to the ceiling as he slowly tapped a foot on the floor.

Hs calculating, mechanical blue eyes scanned the data before his strong voice rang out through the room.

"It looks as though I picked the correct lead for Project Lazarus." He said, "Everything seems to be going to plan, Operative Lawson."

"Yes sir." The woman replied, her accented voice echoing throughout the room, "With my estimates, both Shepards should be in a condition to wake up by the end of the month."

The human shifted in his chair, his expensive suit rustling as he considered her words. He felt a vague urgency that made him want to yell at hteh Operative until she got the job done. The Collectors were abducting humans-his people-and he was waiting for the saviors they were resurrecting from their deaths.

He'd waited two very long years for this plan to come to fruition. Now, at the end, he was steadily growing impatient. He curbed the negative thoughts, though. He knew the hardship of the task he'd set for Operative Lawson and knew that she was doing all she could to accomplish her mission. After all, she was speaking to the man who gave her purpose, who gave her power.

"Excellent." The older man replied coolly, thumbing back a few strands of brown hair that were slowly turning grey, "And the Normandy SR-2?"

"It's at a nearby shipyard." Operative Lawson informed him, "At the moment, we're stocking it to prepare for the needs of the crewmembers on the dossiers. We're still working out a few bugs with the Artificial Intelligence and the last of the Element Zero shipments are arriving, so it should be up and ready within the week, given no new issues."

He nodded, thinking about the siblings. Jane Shepard had, for whatever reason, been a little more intact when they'd found her. As such, most of the operation had been repairs to her systems and organs. It had been expensive, sure. But besides a few little extras here and there to increase her already astounding reflexes, strength and endurance, she was physically about the same as she'd been when she'd been commanding the Normandy.

Her brother, though, was a whole different story. He'd been nothing more than chunks of meat and bones in an armored coffin when he'd been brought in. Operative Lawson had come to the conclusion that he'd been caught in a blast, the compression more or less blowing him apart inside his suit before he'd even made it away from the Normandy.

As such, Miranda had done a _lot _more research on cybernetic and genetic techniques. The man had found it somewhat unsettling that the Operative was so determined to prove her usefulness that she was resorting to the exact thing that had driven her from her father. Still, the near complete level of reconstruction had allowed her to make dramatic physical changes to the already hulking John Shepard. She had assured her boss many times over that there would be no problems with his mental state that weren't there before, but he wasn't so sure it was worth the risk.

"I want John Shepard up first." The man ordered, authority radiating through his words, "If something's wrong or he needs to be put back under, we won't have to deal with the emotional fallout from his sister. Make sure it happens."

"I will, sir." Operative Lawson promised. The man had no doubts she would.

He'd told her his objective was to destroy the culprits in the colony abductions, but that was only partly correct. If they were who he thought they were, he wanted every single one of them dead. However, he also wanted their technology. The kind of advances Cerberus would make could propel humanity forward. They'd finally be past the oppressive turians, the snide salarians and the petty asari.

Everyone would fall in line. The vorcha would follow humanity, while he'd ensure the Genophage wiped the last vestiges of the krogan out. He'd have the geth destroyed, securing an alliance with the technologically impressive quarians. He'd never admit that he had a slight blind spot where the quarians were concerned. They were different, but they had never tried to meddle in anyone else's affairs, earning the a few points in his book. Plus, he knew what they looked like under the masks and it was close enough that he _almost _felt a kinship to them. But they'd have to be under humanity.

_I can bring this galaxy to its knees around humanity._

"I'll hear from you next week, same time." The human directed her, right before closing the channel.

The Illusive Man swiveled around in his seat slowly, staring at the dying star outside his window as he took a sip from the tumbler in his hand.

"We'll win this." He assured himself, knowing his words to be true. "One way or another."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Operative Miranda Lawson - Cerberus Facility Chronos  
**_

Commander Jane Shepard had been called many things ever since her ascension to the office of Spectre. She'd been called a murderer and a savior, a saint and a sinner. She'd killed hundreds of men while offering redemption to dozens of lost souls. She, along with a few allies, had managed to stop an entire armada from conquering the entire galaxy.

Miranda Lawson saw none of these things as she observed the woman stretched out on an operating table before her. She merely saw a woman, just like any other. She also saw the Commander as her chance to once again prove her worth to the Illusive Man, to the man who had given her so much.

Not that she didn't think the Commander wasn't formidable. Her defense against the geth had been an impossible task and Miranda had no doubts that the woman could easily overpower her, given a split second. However, this project had been an endless stream of credits and two years of work. Miranda privately questioned the use of all of these resources for two people, but she had her orders and was more than willing to carry them out.

She glanced down at the Commander, who was currently clad in a Cerberus uniform for the sake of decency. She was certainly an attractive woman, even the borderline chaste Operative was willing to admit it. She was tall (For a woman) and built with long, taught cords of muscle, but not so much as to weigh her down. Long red hair traveled down to her lower back, having grown in the time since they'd restored her brain's functions. She had understandably lost her tan, having spent all of her time on an operating table.

She tore herself away from the woman and looked up, idly playing with the tips of her long sheen of dark hair as brown eyes read through the information presented on the monitor above the bed.

_She's stable. _She thought to herself. _Good. We don't want another incident._

Lo and behold, Commander Shepard had woken up a few days ago, but she hadn't been ready. Her heart rate had skyrocketed and she'd nearly died all over again before they'd managed to put her back under. Miranda didn't want to risk another episode like that again.

She sighed and scratched at a sleekly-muscled thigh. In fact, the entirety of her body was well-formed, having been created that way by her father. Every single gene in her body was tailored to be perfect, formed to give her an advantage at every thing she did. Intelligence, combat, even sex. All were tools that she could utilize, should she so choose.

She let her teeth press into her lower lip as she bit her lip in thought. The Illusive Man had given her a very hard task in John Shepard. He'd wanted her to see what extent of modifications she could make to the man. She knew how she'd get John Shepard to accept it. She'd use the guise of necessity to explain away his modifications, but there were a couple of problems.

One, John Shepard was already an inherently violent man. Operative Lawson had done a lot of research on him before rebuilding him, to get an idea of what he'd be like when he woke up and what kind of brain chemistry she'd have to work around. She could understand his violence, his upbringing having been far more violent and merciless than her own. Still, she would have to have security present when she woke him up.

Second, she wasn't quite sure how he'd receive the genetic and cybernetic modification she'd given him. While his sister had minimal increases to her already outstanding physical processes, John had been another matter entirely. He wasn't as reasonable as his sister and Miranda knw that both of them had several violent run-ins with Cerberus when they'd been chasing Saren Arterius across the galaxy.

Only now was Operative Lawson slowly realizing what she'd done. She didn't pretend that she was a beacon of good morality. As a matter of fact, she was a cold woman, used to operating in the moral greys of hard decisions. If there was one thing that truly got under her skin, it was the unwilling manipulation of another human being. Something she'd just inflicted on someone else to earn approval from the man who'd given her the life she enjoyed.

Operative Lawson knew to keep a cold, objective distance from her work, but she'd lived the life of a child on the run from her father's manipulation. He'd altered her genetically, more or less cloning her, then tried to raise her into the same shell of a human being he'd been.

A week ago, she'd broken, spending a night inside a vodka bottle. She'd managed to coherently piece together a request to the Illusive Man to install a control chip in John Shepard's brain. Miranda hadn't wanted to face the man when he woke up, to tell him what she'd done. She'd been soundly rebuffed by her superior.

So naturally, Operative Lawson was finding it very difficult to calmly assess John Shepard's enhancements and upgrades. Everytime she started to put together reports on the surgeries and experiments that she'd done to him, she felt anger slowly welling up in her. Anger at herself. She wanted to wake him up, wanted him to go. She didn't want to have to see him again.

Of course, Operative Lawson was no fool. She was well aware that she may very well be reviving this man just to get answers out of him, then she'd be ordered to sedate him and send him over to another cell for experimentation.

She looked back at Jane Shepard's stats and found herself fully satisfied.

Assured of her charge's health, she moved out of the cold and clinical room, locking the door behind her. It was a long walk to the next wing, which had been hurriedly set up for John Shepard's revival in a couple of weeks. It was on the other side of the instillation, a location that irritated Miranda greatly since its rushed construction. She started to stride towards her second subject's room, until she ran into the chief of security for this instillation standing directly outside.

Jacob Taylor had long been a friend of Operative Lawson, almost more at one point. He was seemingly the polar opposite to her. Where she was a cold and calculating ice queen, he was a friendly and honest man. A simple man. That might've been what had drawn her to him.

The dark-skinned man was talking to a pair of security officers in the hall, his arms folded over a broad chest. Operative Lawson had seen an endless parade of good-looking men during her time in Cerberus and even she had to admit that Jacob Taylor was one of the best looking men she'd ever seen.

He unfolded his arms when she approached, running a hand through black, short-cropped hair as he warded the men away with a look from his dark gaze. They glanced back at the Cerberus Operative before leaving, undoubtedly scanning her tight-fitting black and white full body suit. Miranda didn't care about the looks, as long as they remained professional in words and deeds.

"Operative." He greeted with a nod.

Jacob Taylor knew the drill. No matter their actual disposition towards each other, he was simply a grunt in the organization and Miranda was one of the elite few that actually got the privilege of seeing The Illusive Man in person. Though he and Miranda sometimes went for a drink or two after a long day, they were completely professional in front of their peers.

"How are things looking in security?" Miranda asked, a little off put by the man. As always. For all of her directness and insensitive crass, she never seemed to know what to say to her friend in front of their colleagues. "Any problems, Chief?"

"None to report, Operative." He replied, watching the other two officers disappear around a corner. Then he looked back at Operative Lawson. "I'm worried about John."

"I'm sure he'll wake up just fine, Jacob." Mirana replied, not worried about the Security Chief's concerns. "He may be a giant, but I'm counting on him wanting answers rather than fighting."

Jacob Taylor wasn't assured. As a former member of the Alliance and a witness to the geth assault on Eden Prime, he knew battle better than his counterpart. She could easily hold her own in a fight, but she wasn't accustomed to a full-scale battle. She didn't know what to look for in a soldier, to find out his origins.

It was that same experience that told Jacob Taylor that the dozens of scrapes and scores along John Shepard's skin indicated dozens, maybe even hundreds of battles and skirmishes. The occasional unconscious twitches in the man's fingers, as though grasping for a weapon, indicated a _very _seasoned fighter. Maybe even more seasoned than Commander Shepard, if that was at all possible. That, coupled with the fact that John had multiple reasons to hate the organization that woke him up and had a violent past, presented several problems that Jacob Taylor was hoping he wouldn't have to address.

"Just be careful, Miri." He muttered quietly, scratching at the patch of hair on his chin, "The man you got on that slab in there is well used to killing."

"As is the person on the other 'slab'." Operative Lawson assured him, frowning, "I am sure we can handle it if they try to get violent."

Jacob doubted it, but he'd already brought up his concerns. He knew that Miranda had already made up her mind and there was no point in pursuing the subject further. He sought out another subject and found one he'd been wondering about for the last month and a half or so.

"So the Shepards aren't bags of meat and bones anymore." He said, "We're all pretty eagerly anticipating them waking up. Any idea when that might be?"

The Cerberus operative knew better than to answer that question. For as certain as she was of when the two would wake, she did not want to give anyone false hope. They'd been here for the last two years, after all.

"I can't answer that, Jacob." Operative Lawson replied sternly. "Better to let me worry about that."

Jacob Taylor had heard enough evasion for now. He grumbled something about checking on Shepard and walked away from Miranda. There were very few people who could act that way that Miranda would tolerate and Jacob was one of the lucky few. She watched him go for a moment, then opened the door and stepped inside the makeshift surgery room.

The giant of a man lay on a reinforced table that had been built specifically to keep him from moving when he woke up. John Shepard was just over seven feet tall, his already formidable size reinforced by the experiments and surgeries. He was scarred over in a lot of places, but Miranda had felt guilty about her part in his reconstruction and done her best to ensure that he didn't have any scars that weren't there before.

She had to admit that he was far less appealing to her than his admittedly beautiful sister. He had a square jaw that looked like it'd seen its fair share of blows and a crooked nose that told the same story. Heavy eyebrows had grow over his wide eyes and his black hair had grown long in the time he'd been on the table. A beard covered the man's face, grown from the long period of confinement.

He was in great shape, though. He wasn't overly muscular, though he was still more muscular than the average human being. Despite his looks, Miranda found herself strangely attracted to the man, an emotion she blamed on the guilt of her experimentation on him.

She moved to check his stats, when his eyes snapped open, dark blue eyes staring at the ceiling in clear confusion.

A blue-eyed gaze swung her way. There was no other movement from the man and even his chest didn't seem to move with his breaths. Miranda saw his fingers twitch, as though grasping for a weapon that wasn't there.

No words were spoken between them, both of them surprised by the situation they were in and settling on staring at each other. Finally, he decided to move, much to Operative Lawson's surprise. He sat up on the table, the thin metal pieces keeping him pinned merely snapping or tearing clear off of the table with a little effort.

Operative Lawson decided to take action, bringing a hand towards the pistol at her side. John merely watched her as she pulled out her pistol, surprising her. Still, she dutifully snapped the weapon up, aiming for the man's eyes. Judging from the look on his face and his body language, he was completely unconcerned to find a pistol aimed directly at his face. To Miranda, it spoke volumes of his composure.

Surprising her once again, John Shepard spoke first.

"I know that weapon." He said, his voice powerful and level, "It's a bad idea to aim it at me."

Miranda didn't lower her weapon, still unsure of the man's motivations.

"What do you intend to do?" She demanded coldly.

There was a moment of silence between the two, the pistol between them forcing contention.

"That depends on your actions." He finally answered. "The only reason I haven't disarmed or killed you is that I'm pretty sure you're part of the reason I'm still alive."

Content that the man could at least be reasoned with, Operative Lawson lowered her weapon, going as far as to holster it. Meanwhile, her mind was racing.

_He is awake ahead of schedule. _She thought, _How did he manage to wake up? A question, I suppose, to go along with the barrage of others I'm supposed to ask him when he is stripped of his coma. Which is right now._

Deciding to stick to her orders no matter the inconvenient timing, Operative Lawson leaned against a bench, folding her arms as she looked at the (currently) docile giant. She had to gain a gauge of his mental faculties, first.

"I'm Operative Miranda Lawson." The woman told him in an accent he pinpointed as Australian, "What is your name?"

"John Shepard." He replied, still watching her suspiciously, "Alliance Marine. Staff Sergeant."

Truth be told, he was stalling. He was a soldier in every way, which put him in a distinct disadvantage in situations like this, where he was forced to find his own direction in something that was not combat. He usually depended on his sister for that kind of action. While he was keeping level conversation with his possible captor, he was reeling through the possibilities.

_Not Alliance. _He thought to himself, _I'm well aware of how little they can actually do in terms of medical science. I was blown up, so it couldn't be them. The Council wouldn't bother bringing me back, far more content with burying me and the truth. Who else would have an interest in reviving me?_

John processed this information and decided that, until presented with other answers, he would simply go with what he knew. For now, he needed to work with what was in front of him. Simply put, he was away from his command and in a room with a hostile but reasonable human woman. So far, he wasn't incredibly out of his comfort zone.

Miranda was in the middle of trying to get his attention when he looked back up at her. The normally unshakeable woman paused, uncertain as to what his next move would be.

"Where am I?" He demanded to know.

Operative Lawson frowned, displeased to be on the receiving end of the conversation. She was aware, however, that part of gaining his trust would be giving him answers, as well. For now, she would allow this reverse-interrogation to continue.

_Jacob's going to be standoffish for a week when he learns I didn't call him down here to 'protect' me. _Miranda realized, _As if I need protection._

She would answer his questions with just enough context and information to keep him from asking too much. She didn't want him to know everything, after all.

"You're in a Cerberus facility." She answered, "We've been working on reviving you ever since your destruction on the ship."

John remembered, then, what had happened. He remembered the painful explosions, the confusing alarms and the blinding lights. He remembered Tali-Zorah nar Rayya with one armed looped around a railing while a three-fingered hand wrapped tightly around his bicep in an attempt to keep him from being sucked out into the void. He'd never cared much for the young woman and had made it known several times, but in those few moments she'd come to show more character than anyone on the ship.

She hadn't been able to hold on, however, an explosion behind her staggering the quarian and forcing her to let go. He'd been pulled into the void. The last thing he remembered was floating past an engine, then the enemy ship tearing through it with a beam. There had been an explosion, then darkness.

_Did she say 'Cerberus'? _John wondered. They'd met the pro-human organization several times. He'd never much cared for them, but they had brought him back to life so he figured he could at least give them the benefit of explaining themselves. That could come later, though. First, he needed to figure out what had happened to him.

"How long have I been out?"

"We've been working on you for two years." She answered, prepared for the fallout. To her surprise, there was very little. At most, he looked disappointed before nodding and moving on.

"So I'm a lot bigger than I used to be." He said, his tone darkening considerably. "What did you do to me?"

Operative Lawson scowled, immensely annoyed that she wasn't able to anticipate the man's reactions. She'd done so much studying on John Shepard that she'd mapped out exactly how the conversation would go when he woke up. She'd lie to him and while he'd be suspicious of her, he'd see the wisdon of working with the woman and from there, she'd be able to foster the trust she needed.

"You have to understand the extent of the damage to you, Staff Sergeant." Miranda started, having prepared this explanation, though she wasn't prepared to use it. "The biggest piece of you was twenty pounds. We had to install cybernetics, some machinery and even implants to keep you up and running. You'll be a lot stronger, a lot more durable and a lot more agile. There will be other effects, but we can get into the specifics at a later date."

The problem was, he had no idea where he was, where to go or how many soldiers lay between him and escape. If there even was escape. Since the woman was willing to communicate and at least be civil, John figured his best chance at escaping lay with her. Once he was out, he could discern his next course of action. However, there was one question which he needed to know the answer to immediately.

"Did Jane escape?" He asked.

Miranda felt the thrill of victory as the Marine spoke the words. This early, he'd see her as the woman who'd worked tirelessly to bring his sibling back and that would earn her more trust than anything in this conversation had. She was about to answer until she hard a soft boom in the distance. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, but John was.

"An explosion." The Marine said simply.

_Dammit. _Miranda thought to herself. _If this facility is under attack, there can only be one objective the attackers are after. Both Shepards._

Miranda ignored the Marine and sealed the room off. It'd hold whatever tried to attack it momentarily. Long enough for her to get the ball rolling.

She opened up her omni-tool and began to type instructions into the interface. Within seconds, the camera showed Jane Shepard's operating room. Miranda quickly issued codes to seal it off and then another to begin her revival.

"It is way too soon." She muttered to herself, "I hope she doesn't nearly die again. That'll be two years of effort down the drain."

John stayed silent, his eyes on the woman as she typed in orders on the omni-tool she had on her forearm. After a moment, she exhaled in visible relief, watching the screen that had popped up on the tool.

"Shepard." She said into the device, "Commander, can you hear me? Shepard, I know the scars haven't healed yet, but you need to move. This facility is under attack."

John felt an outpouring of gratitude towards the woman. He didn't pretend he was a kind man, but clearly his sister had been in the same state he'd been in and this woman had resurrected her as well. If there was any more reason to at least lend the Operative some trust, he didn't know what it was.

She closed the window and looked back up at the watching Marine.

"How is she?" He asked.

"She's in good enough condition to fight." Miranda started. "I think. I'm waking her up much earlier than anticipated, but the rest of the work on her has been evaluations and tests. The actual reconstruction is done. You'll see her when we get out of here."

"We?" The Marine asked, sounding amused.

The Cerberus operative didn't answer, pulling a small earpiece and a nearby pistol off of one of the desks. She tossed both of them to the Marine, who caught them with ease.

"What is this?" He asked, looking down at the earpiece. He wasn't familiar with the fancy equipment, not surprising when Miranda remembered how long he'd been out.

"A galactic translator." Miranda responded, pulling her own weapon out and checking that the thermal clip was fully seated. "New model."

There was a moment of silence as he looked down at the earpiece, then he shrugged and stuck it into his ear. He heard the whirring of electronics as the tiny piece of equipment started up, then there was silence.

"I've got it loaded." He replied to Miranda's questioning gaze. "You expect me to help you?"

"If you want to get out of here, yes." Miranda responded, tapping away on her omni-tool. She began to run a VI through the installation's systems remotely, cutting off all power to the terminals and downloading everything to her omni-tool as the VI simultaneously wiped everything from the systems. It was a very desperate play, but she had to keep the information on Jane and John away from their assailant.

She looked back up at the John, who still hadn't moved from his seated position on the bed. She felt a familiar frustration that she had felt many times when interacting with those outside of Cerberus who knew what she was.

"Look." She directed, "I know you don't trust me. Quite frankly, I haven't given you many reasons to. At this point, however, it is in both of our interests to work together and get off this station before we are all killed. Physical abilities or no, it won't help you if this entire station blows up."

He hesitated for a moment, thinking through his options, then gave the woman a nod.

"This is your station, Operative Lawson." He answered. "I'll follow your lead."

_Jacob better be at the docking bay alive. _Miranda hoped.

"Get ready." She said with an encouraging nod as she accessed the controls for the door.

The big man took up a position near the door, pistol out and ready for whatever awaited them on the other side. He was locked in position, tense but comfortable where he was at. Miranda was able to observe years of heavy combat in action as the Marine waited for the door to open.

It was then that Operative Lawson knew, without a doubt, that she'd be getting off this station alive.

_**Quick note. Since I'm so damn fond of my other Mass Effect fic, they'll probably make an appearance here and there in this story, so don't be surprised when things go a little different in this story.**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Lieutenant Tali'Zorah vas Neema - Freedom's Progress**

Tali'Zorah felt a nervous twitch in her hand, feeling like she had to grab her pistol as she looked around at the deserted colony. There was something about this place that made her incredibly anxious. More than likely, it was the constant feeling that something was going to jump out at them. Sometimes, light security mechs did, but they were nothing compared to a squad of quarian Marines.

Lieutenant Tali'Zorah surveyed the square before her, not sure what to make of anything here. She checked every shadow and corner for enemies and found nothing. She looked down to her Squad Leader, Prazza'Tiel vas Ulnay. The man had no respect for her and she supposed that came from the same feeling that the rest of the Flotilla had perpetuated.

She hadn't been welcomed back with warm open arms to the Flotilla. Her reception had been a little cold, mostly due to her refusal to leave the _Normandy_ until its destruction. Her people saw her as an outcast, though her father helped engender a little good will towards her. There were few on the fleet who would question her skill in battle and though she wasn't the absolute berserker that the Quarian Marines Admiral was, she was certainly no pushover. As such, her father had used his influence to get her sent on these missions to prove her value to the Flotilla.

The problem with that was the fact she was treated with very little respect, even by those who should've recognized her skill in battle and technical expertise as a valuable asset. Of course, it didn't help that her squad was new. These idiots wanted to rush and get Prazza and her experience told her that careful fighting was effective fighting. As such, none of them were very satisfied with the pace of this operation.

"Clear." She said, waiting for confirmation from Prazza.

"Clear, of course." He grumbled. Under the faceplate, she could've sworn he rolled his eyes.

They stood, with Tali'Zorah keeping the shotgun in hand as she did so.

They'd all heard the rumors of these colonies. Anyone who did business or lived outside Council Space heard about what was happening to the humans. One by one, they were all disappearing. There was no struggle, no fighting and no deaths. It just looked as though the colony had gotten up and walked off. While it usually wasn't the business of the quarians to assist human colonies, they had lost a young quarian named Veetor here.

Upon arrival, they'd seen him. Something had terrified him so badly that he'd fired at their vessel and ran away. While she was sure he was sick, the fact remained that he knew what had happened here and whatever had happened scared him enough to get him to shoot at his fellow quarians in a delusional terror. Tali thought of the Reapers and her stomach clenched a little.

_Staff Sergeant bosh'tet Shepard. _She thought to herself, using her favorite name for her less-than-favorite human, _What would you do?_

She had never liked the man much and he hadn't particularly cared for her, but she wouldn't deny that he was one of the best soldiers she'd ever seen in action. Tali hoped that she could become half the warrior he was, one day. Tali remembered his death, for her inability to stop it and the death of one of the deadliest men she'd ever known.

Jane's face came to Tali's mind unbidden and Tali nearly felt herself tear up. Jane had nearly been a sister to Tali, willing to talk to her and help her through her transition on the _Normandy. _The only reason Tali had never been truly angry with John was because of Jane and the fact that John treated literally everyone else but his sister the same way he treated Tali. He was a bosh'tet, but he was a fair bosh'tet. She'd mourned his passing almost as much as she mourned his sister's.

In uncertain times, she tried to think what John would do. She knew that if anyone would know what to do in this complex situation, it'd be him. Right now, Tali'Zorah was dealing with a positively wild array of factors, none of them appealing.

Tali did the same thing she sometimes saw him do during a lull on the battlefield.

"Hold." Tali'Zorah told her Marines, the order displeasing them greatly. She felt Prazza fuming at her side, but she paid him no mind as she just thought, charging and discharging her pulse rifle as she lost herself in thought.

Her pulse rifle was a gift from her father. She knew he got it from his research of the geth and it was a wicked assault rifle capable of sending dozes of round at the enemy before needing to be recharged.

She continued to think, despite her squad's increasing agitation. She was capable of making snap judgements in the field, but knew that any time a Marine was given to plan was a moment from the Ancestors.

"Okay." She said after a few moments. "We need to split up. Prazza's fire team with me, Luri'Neer takes her squad and Oron'Uneth takes his. Sergeant Neer, I want you to circle around the outside of this colony and avoid engaging anything you can. You'll be recon. I want you to find Veetor or any traces of him. Sergeant Neer, you've got the heavy weapons so I want you to cause some noise on the other side of the colony. Draw the mechs in and retreat I'l move forward with Prazza's squad and see what we can do. I'd rather not have them crashing into combat on the wrong side."

Sergeant Luri'Neer, ever dutiful, gave only a nod before gesturing for her team to follow her. The four of them moved into a building and vanished from sight. Tali swore that Sergeant Oron'Uneth rolled his eyes behind his mask before telling his team to fall in behind him.

_I'm losing them. _Tali thought morosely, trying to stifle her rage. _If it weren't for the Admiralty Board, if it weren't for Daro'Xen and that bosh'tet Zaal'Koris, I wouldn't be fighting my own people down here. If only Admiral Han'Gerrel or Shala'Raan would stick up for me. If only Lena'Zuril would be willing to play politics instead of leading troops._

Then again, this was Tali's fight. It was a fight she would win.

"Let's go, Prazza." Lieutenant Tali'Zorah ordered, hefting her assault rifle and disappearing into the shadows of a building.

_**So...this one got inserted way ahead of time, but I just fixed it up to make it fit in the timeline.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Commander Jane Shepard - Chronos Facility**_

Commander Jane Shepard stood on a balcony, looking down at a walkway below her. A lift was nearby that would take her down to the floor, but she'd thought that she heard something coming from the door at the end of the walkway. The Predator-issue pistol was up and trained on the door, ready to rain hell on whatever came through.

Jane hurt pretty much everywhere. She was still confused as to why, exactly, she was awake. Her last memories had been of her thrashing around in the icy void of space next to the flaming ruins of the SSV Normandy, losing air fast as the perforations in her armor leaked precious oxygen. Right before she had closed her eyes to the void, she'd remembered heat as she began to fall through a planet's atmosphere.

She supposed that could've been why she was sore all over. However long it had been, whether weeks or a few months, it had clearly taken a toll on her. She only prayed that her brother was still alive. she'd recovered a couple of notes that had indicated John was somewhere in the facility, reconstructed just like she was.

There were so many questions that needed answers, though. She had no idea where she was, who had woken her up and where her crew was. She had no doubts that they were somewhere in this facility, trying to reach her.

_And I'm damn sure that John is here. _She continued, _I know if he's awake, he's going to be crushing these mechs maybe even better than I am._

She wondered what had happened to the woman who had woken her up. There had been no response from her since she told Jane they were under attack. She supposed that, if she were fighting her way to escape, she probably didn't have time to guide her through the facility.

Dark green eyes glanced down to spot a welcome sight. A weapon lay on the ground, one that she sorely needed. A thick, fixed-on circular clip indicating the presence of either grenades or compact rockets within its hold. A tube overtop of the clip fired the rounds, whatever they were.

Jane Shepard quickly holstered the pistol and pulled the heavy weapon up, testing its weight as she kept an eye on the door across from the walkway below him. The Commander saw something out of the corner of her vision and glanced over to spot some sort of insignia on a tank near the exit. It was some sort of interlocking symbol, black and gold. Shepard had seen it before.

_Where was it? _She wondered privately.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the doors opened and a trio of bipedal mechs shuffled in, their SMGs pointed up at her. Inaccurate but dangerous rounds started to fly around her as she pulled the launcher up and pulled the trigger, sending a smoking round headed right for the group. Jane took cover behind the low wall of the balcony as an explosion shook her and the balcony. She glanced back over to see the mechs destroyed, but a plume of fire jetting from a nearby pipe. The jet was directly blocking her path.

"That's what barriers are for." Commander Shepard muttered, moving to the side and stepping onto the lift. She activated the lift and immediately descended to the ground level. She looked at the flames and the door beyond and sucked in a breath.

This was going to hurt, in more ways than one.

Shepard began to sprint, her feet carrying her faster than he was accustomed to. Commander Shepard didn't have time to marvel at the surprising burst of speed, finding herself awash with the flame ass he dashed through it. There was a brief moment of searing heat as her barriers shimmered, then she was out of it, slowing down as she rushed through the door.

Her muscles ached from the sudden action, a reaction to the soreness already present. Commander Shepard ignored the dull pain, ascending a flight of stairs and exiting through a doorway to the right. As the door opened, a round pinged off the frame, surprising her. She didn't have much time to catch her wits as she took cover behind an overturned metal table. She saw a human behind the wall, crouching low with a pistol in hand.

Across a pit that led to a lower level, was another balcony. There were four of the same bipedal mechs shooting at the human. Commander Shepard decided to make contact with whoever the combatant was. She swung out around the table and stayed low as she approached the wall. The man popped up briefly and aimed in with the pistol as the mechs reloaded.

She was well aware that she was running low on ammo, but she didn't have a lot of options besides thinning out the enemy and making a break for it.

She fired three very well-aimed rounds, all three of them ripping and tearing through the circuitry in the mech's head. WIth a whirring of spent electricity, the mech dropped as the man crouched back into cover. Another volley of return fire sailed over the man's head as he turned to find Commander Shepard headed his way. The Spectre pressed herself to the wall and looked at the combatant.

"Shepard?" The man said, his voice indicating surprise. "Things must be worse than I thought, if Miranda's got you running around."

"Maybe you want to tell me what's going on?" Commander Shepard asked, agitated, "I just woke up."

"Right, forgot about that." The man answered, "Name's Jacob Taylor. I'm the security chief for-"

A round ricocheted off the rail that was mere centimeters over Jacob's head.

"Damn it." He groaned, before looking up at Shepard. "Look, Shepard, I'll explain later. I'm running low on thermal clips, but I'm a biotic."

Shepard already knew what to do, coming up over cover with her pistol already drawn down across the gap. She filled the first mech with a third of the clip as Jacob reached out. His hand filled with blue energy as he jerked his hand back towards him. A second mech was pulled over the railing, floating through the air briefly before dropping to the ground nearly ten meters below. Shepard switched to the last mech, putting one very accurate round through the 'brain' of the mech, putting down the machine instantly.

"Alright, Shepard." Jacob said, drawing himself up to his full height, "W-"

"This is Engineer WIlson." A voice crackled over Jacob's radio, "Is anybody there?"

Jacob pressed a hand to his ear, activating the voice reception on his radio device.

"Wilson, is that you?" He asked, then silently cursed himself for asking a question he already had the answer to, "This is Taylor. I'm with Shepard."

"Shepard's alive?" The engineer responded, sounding surprised and...annoyed?

"Where are you?" Jacob asked, "We're coming to get you."

There was an explosion in the distance. Jane tensed, waiting for more noise, but none came. The gunfire was dying down. Most would interpret this as a good sign, but she knew better. That so few people were still alive was telling of how well everyone else was faring. Less gunfire meant less resistance, which inversely meant more mechs to chase them down.

"I'm in engineering." Wilson replied, "Hurry."

Jacob turned to Shepard and gestured ahead with the pistol. Shepard nodded, bringing her pistol up as Jacob did the same. Jacob hit the controls for the door and they emerged into a room that was dissected by thick pipes that also circled the perimeter of the room.

In the crimson glow that washed over the room, a mech stood to its full height, turning on the two soldiers. Jacob reached out again and his hand glowed blue as the mech suddenly froze, completely unable to move. Shepard brought her pistol up and blew the mech's head away.

They moved through the room silently, destroying two more mechs on the way to the exit. They emerged into a well-lit area that had stairs leading up to a second level. The two of them started to ascend the stairs, until a voice came back over the radio.

"Oh God, they've found me!" Wilson yelled over the radio, "Help!"

"Wilson!" Jacob yelled over the radio, but there was no response. He looked to Shepard and noticed that the Commander couldn't be less disturbed by the conversation. Jacob supposed that he could understand, though he couldn't relate. Shepard was a fair woman, if the reputation was to be believe. However, she was also a hard woman, one that had made hard decisions in her life and seen plenty of her own die.

Jacob was still encouraged when the Commander gave him a small nod, gesturing that he could keep up. Jacob started up the stairs at a near-sprint, with Shepard right on his heels. They paused for a moment at the top, scanning for enemies before running again, this time towards a door at the end of the hallway. They paused before it, readying their weapons before opening the door.

Shepard was surprised to find a pair of mechs on the ground, showing signs of incineration and short-circuiting. An older human was propped up against a pair of supply boxes. WIlson, she presumed. Shepard noticed a wound in the man's leg that seemed to be bleeding steadily. A painful wound, but not a mortal one. The engineer looked up at the two as they approached.

"Thank God you arrived." He muttered, "Got any medi-gel?"

Jacob squatted down and pulled a pack of medi-gel out of his back pocket. He found a nearby cloth and used it to wipe the wound of fluids before applying the gel. Wilson hissed in pain, but otherwise stayed still. Jacob watched the wound as scabbing started to appear at the ends of the wound. Satisfied that the medi-gel was working its magic properly, he stood and looked at Shepard.

"He'll be alright." Jacob said. Then he realized something was wrong. He looked back down at the engineer. "Wilson, what are you even doing up here? You're not cleared for this level."

"I'm trying to get to the docking bay." He grunted, sounding annoyed at being questioned over such an obvious thing. "Was almost there, until I got ambushed."

Shepard was looking around the room for anything useful, but Jacob was much more worried about Wilson. Something was off and he knew exactly what it was. Wilson couldn't just hack his way into the room they were currently crowded. Only six people had access and Jacob was one of them. He knew Wilson wasn't.

_Maybe he pulled the security algorithm off another's omni-tool._ Jacob extrapolated, _I hope it wasn't Miranda's._

He found his mind wandering to the woman, fearing that they'd get to the docking bay and wouldn't find her there. He knew he had to get Shepard out of here, at least. They'd lose John, but the Commander was much more important to this effort. Nobody else in the galaxy could take care of whatever was wrong with the vanishing colonies.

In fact, Jacob felt a gnawing guilt, feeling as though he was deceiving the Commander. He carried no illusions that the woman hated Cerberus and Jacob could understand why. He'd looked up the incident with Admiral Kahoku a couple years ago. It was an incident that Jacob took issue with, like many of Cerberus' actions.

Jacob took a breath as the Commander started to walk across the divide to the end of the room, where the door was. Wilson pushed himself off of the floor and tested his leg as Jacob smoke.

"Alright, Shepard." He said. The Spectre turned around, surprised to be hearing Jacob calling her back when they were so close to the exit. "Things are getting tense. If I tell you who we work for, will you trust me?"

"Dammit, Jacob." Wilson grunted, annoyed, "We won't be making it out of here if we stand around all day."

"We won't make it out of here if Shepard keeps expecting a shot in the back." Jacob argued fiercely.

"It's your ass, Jacob." Wilson replied with a shrug as he crossed his arms.

"Commander," He said, "The group I work for is called Cerberus."

Jacob could easily see, from the look of the Commander's face, that she knew exactly who Cerberus was. Shepard's hand drifted towards her pistol as she looked between Jacob and WIlson.

"I won't work with terrorists." She told the two immediately. Wilson looked like he couldn't care less. Jacob, on the other hand, wanted the Commander to trust him.

"I won't pretend everything that Cerberus does is right, Commander," He reasoned, "but we went through a lot of expense bringing you back."

Jane looked at the man, trying to make up her mind about the Cerberus soldier. On one hand, Cerberus was an extremist group, one that had been responsible for the death of Admiral Kahoku when Shepard had been chasing Saren. On the other, Jacob seemed completely earnest in his need to have Jane trust him. Jane had met his type before in immoral organizations and always wondered what they were doing there.

"Why did you bring me back?"

"All gotta come from the boss, Shepard." Jacob replied, "Sorry."

For the moment, Shepard decided that she was willing to go out on a limb. These people hadn't brought her back just to kill her. She moved her hand away from her pistol, a movement that did not go unnoticed by Jacob.

"Are there any other test subjects here?" Shepard asked.

"Just one other." Jacob replied, not entirely sure how to correctly relay what happened to her brother, "Your brother, in fact. He...there's been a few things done to him so...you know what? I'm not the one to explain it to you, I don't have degrees. Just know your brother is probably safe. Miranda went to check on him just before the attack hit."

"Okay." Jane replied, immensely relieved to hear about John.

"Great, we're all friends now." Wilson said, his grating voice getting on Jane's nerves, "Can we run for safety, now?"

They moved into the next room, which contained only a pair of already-destroyed mechs and a PDA, neither of which Shepard wanted to mess with. They ascended yet another flight of stairs and Wilson stopped them outside of the door.

"I think we're close." He said. He started to tap on his omni-tool. "Let me load up an overload program, just in case."

Jacob and Jane waited, until the older man gave them a nod. Jacob hit the controls for the door and it slid open as he and the Commander took a position at its entrance, weapons up. When the door slid open, they found themselves in a two-story room with an exit on each side.

Three mechs unfolded themselves at the bottom of the stairs and began firing. Shepard and Jacob scrambled for cover as Wilson ducked low. The engineer typed on his omni-tool and then held it out towards the mechs. With the sound of discharging electricity, the overload program worked its magic, temporarily short-circuiting the three mechs. Jacob and Shepard used this opportunity to come up out of cover and bring the mechs down without chewing through too much of their ammo.

They ascended the stairs and were just about to enter the small waiting room on the right when the door opened across from them. At least six mechs spilled out, guns already opening up on the group. They took cover and Jacob looked at Wilson.

"Can you overload all those?!" He yelled past the rounds flying through the air between them.

"No!" Wilson yelled back, shaking his head.

"I can!" Jane Shepard told the two. Jacob looked at the Commander in surprise. He'd never known that the Commander was able to hack.

Jacob could only watch in something bordering amusement as Shepard 'overloaded' the mechs by sending a grenade flying down the hall at them. The resulting explosion leveled nearly all of the mechs. Those that weren't down were finished off by the group. When the last mech fell, they all turned to the door behind them.

"It should be right through here." Wilson told the two.

The door slid open and gave Jane a rather surprising sight.

A woman stood at the door, dressed in some sort of _very _tight fitting black and white suit that showed off all of her rather curvy features. She wore her dark hair long and it framed a face that seemed damn near perfect. Shepard was usually not one to dwell on the looks of another woman, but even she found the Cerberus Operative incredibly attractive. Large brown eyes passed over the group, narrowing when they stopped on Wilson.

That was nothing, however, compared to who she had with her.

Shepard wasn't incredibly tall, but she still came out at almost six feet. She wasn't used to having to look up at people. The towering man in front of her was easily over seven feet tall, covered with all kinds of scarring that was clearly surgical. He looked down at her in surprise and though his features seemed a little different, he looked partially the same.

"Miranda." Wilson said, sounding completely shocked. Shepard saw the woman's gaze move to him and saw her mouth curl up in a snarl. "You're supposed to be-"

She raised her pistol and fired a round directly into the engineer's chest. Wilson dropped to the floor in a heap, bleeding from the hole in his chest. Shepard knew that the round had penetrated his heart, which would leave him dead in a few seconds.

Shepard wasn't sure what to make of this development. While she was certainly used to killing, she was surrounded by people he didn't know who were shooting each other. So she went for what she knew best. She brought his pistol up, aiming it at the woman. For her part, she'd already lowered her weapon, but that didn't reassure Jane.

"What the hell are you doing, Miranda?" Jacob demanded, his eyes wide.

"Wilson was a traitor." Miranda replied coolly, as though shooting coworkers was routine, "He was trying to kill us all."

Jane wasn't too surprised. She had heard Jacob's suspicions when they had first met Wilson and she got a very untrustworthy sense from the man. She supposed it made sense and was willing to let the Cerberus Operative off, but there was one more thing she had to deal with before she was ready to go.

Shepard looked at Jacob as she put her gun away, then up at the gigantic human. She felt unsure. He looked different than when she'd last seen him, but then again, they'd been spaced. She didn't doubt that she had her own collection of scars.

_Only one way to tell. _She thought.

"Hey." Was all she managed to get out before throwing her arms around the vaguely-familiar man that was her brother. She felt such relief that her brother, who she'd watched as he died, was back. She felt him put his arms around her and give her a reassuring brotherly squeeze before she disengaged. "You look like hell, John."

"I feel like it." He answered with a shrug.

Jane knew her brother. He was a man of precious few words and did not prefer to chat for too long. Honestly, for him to say that much during such a stressful situation was rare. Usually, even with her, it was orders or acknowledgment of orders.

_He's going to work himself to death, one day. _Jane lamented, not for the first time. She turned her attention to the woman next to him.

"I'm not working with Cerberus." She told the voluptuous woman steadfastly. Miranda didn't even have to guess where he'd found that out, letting out a small huff out as she cast an annoyed glance at the Cerberus soldier.

"Ah, Jacob." She said, her tone indicating to him just how disappointed she was in the man, "Should've known you'd let your nature get in the way of your better judgement."

"The Commander needs to trust us, Miranda." Jacob shot back, holding his ground. "She's not going to help us if we keep lying to her."

"Well," Miranda said disdainfully, looking back at Jane, "As long as we're getting everything out in the open, anything else you want to know?"

Shepard had many questions that she would love the answer to, but none of that mattered as another explosion in the distance put everything into perspective. She had to leave now and she could ask questions later.

"Let's get out of here." She said, "I've had enough of this place to last me a lifetime."

"Or two, in your case." Miranda shot back, showing the first hint of humor she'd displayed since either of the Shepards had met her.

The group headed for the shuttle, eager to escape the swiftly collapsing station.


	6. Chapter 6

_**The Illusive Man - Cerberus Headquarters**_

The Illusive Man sighed, showing a rare moment of frustration as he put a finger to each temple and rubbed vigorously, trying to clear out the headache that was starting to build. He took another sip of bourbon, the warm liquid helping to soothe him on its way down.

The Illusive Man brought the cigarette in his other hand to his lips, taking a long pull before blowing out the smoke, momentarily watching the cloud drift through the dark room. Then he looked back at his Operative.

Operative Lawson awaited his reply, but he wasn't completely ready to give one. Her holograph stood in front of him, arms crossed in a highy defensive posture that told him that she was nervous about what his response would be.

_As she should be. _The Illusive Man thought. _She knows the price of failure, in this organization._

On one hand, he was very disappointed that the station had been destroyed. He'd sunk a lot of credits and resources into the station and it had been one of his greatest laboratories. He supposed that he could only expect so much with saboteurs riddling his organization.

On the other hand, Operative Lawson had reacted admirably. She had not only woken up John Shepard Shepard, but Jane as well. Following that, she had managed to salvage all the data from the station and escape with both of his prized assets and Taylor before it was destroyed.

In other words, she'd salvaged the most important people on that station.

So things could've been a lot worse, had Lawson not been there to intervene. He hadn't originally planned to keep her in charge of the Lazarus Cell after the Shepards had awoken, but she'd outperformed herself.

Also of interest was John's mental state, as he had apparently engaged her in a brief conversation right before the attack. Mirand had nearly gained his trust, but the station was attacked before she could cement it. Operative Lawson had also relayed that she was nearly a hundred percent certain that he was the same man he'd been when he woke up.

Of course, this all meant very little to the Illusive Man. He'd planned on subduing John after he was thoroughly interrogated, then figuring out exactly how to mass replicate what Operative Lawson had done to him.

_It looks like he'll have to fall under the Lazarus Cell. _The Illusive Man thought, annoyed that his plans were being set in motion ahead of their time. _It's a win-win scenario. He either helps us with our missing colonists or he dies in battle, giving me a body to study. I can always reclaim him after the threat to our colonies is dealt with._

"Operative Lawson." The Illusive Man finally said, "While I am not pleased with the destruction of our most advanced facility, the actions taken by you and Jacob Taylor were correct and I applaud your quick thinking. Tell Commander Shepard Staff Sergeant Shepard that I want to speak with them."

"Yes sir." She replied, her accented voice relaying relief. "Thank you, sir."

She disappeared from in front of him as the Illusive Man readied himself for the conversation he was about to have. He didn't delude himself as to what Commander Shepard thought of him and his organization. While he normally wouldn't care, he needed the Commander out and in front of this threat. That meant that the Commander needed to trust him.

As for the Staff Sergeant, the Illusive Man was sure he could get through to the Marine. Staff Sergeant Shepard was a little more reasonable than his sister, who was a moral crusader at times. If the Illusive Man could get one of the siblings, he knew he'd get the other. Right now, the pair's weakness was John.

After a few moments, the holograph lit up again, displaying the two to the Illusive Man. They sat there for a moment in silence, taking the other in.

The Illusive Man supposed that it was hard to be impressed over a holograph, but Shepard certainly looked the part of a soldier. She wore the familiar N7 armor she had always worn in her hunt for Saren and she seemed to glare the Illusive Man down.

"Shepard." The Illusive Man finally said, "Glad to see you made it out of there alright. How are you feeling?"

"I heard I cost you a fortune." Commander Shepard said, folding his arms standoffishly. The Illusive Man decided not to get dragged down into that trap.

"And you, Staff Sergeant." The Illusive Man continued, looking at the giant in the same issue of armor, "Have there been any effects from the surgeries or the cybernetics we fitted you with?"

"I'm fine, sir," The Staff Sergeant replied. The Illusive Man immediately pegged the Marine as a pure soldier, not used to dealing with people outside of combat, like Commander Shepard was. "There will be no long-term effects, I'm hoping."

"Good to hear." The Illusive Man said, deciding that it was time to get to the point. "Now, for the reason I called you two here."

He took another drag on the cigarette, stringing the two along with suspense as he blew the smoke out and flicked ashes into the ashtray on the arm of his seat. He looked back up at the two, the blue cybernetic eyes calculating smoothly.

"Our colonies have been vanishing." He said, "Over a hundred thousand humans have just disappeared and the Council isn't doing anything about it. As they tend to do, Commander, they're blaming it on batarian slavers. You and I know the truth, though. We know who's really behind it."

"The Reapers." Shepard muttered, his face darkening even over the holograph. For the first time, he noticed that thin red lines running through Shepard's face, indicating cybernetic scars that hadn't healed yet. Undoubtedly a result of her being woken up too early.

"Yes." The Illusive Man said, "Freedom's Progress was the most recent hit. I want you to go down there. If you don't find anything, we'll part ways. If you do, we can continue to work together towards ending this threat."

"And me?" Staff Sergeant asked, shifting slightly. The Illusive Man noted that he wasn't too comfortable being left out of the conversation.

"Can't see that it makes too much of a difference." The Illusive Man answered. "We need all the help we can get and you're certainly no pushover. You help your sister out with this and I'll do my best to use my contacts and get you reinstated. After that, we'll see what we can do about getting you working with your sister legitimately."

"Everybody wants something." The gargantuan Marine muttered.

"You'll get used to it." Commander Shepard assured him, much to the Illusive Man's bemusement.

"We're working up some dossiers of people for you to recruit, should you stay on with us after Freedom's Progress." The Illusive Man said, "I am aware of your preferences towards non-human species and I am willing to make exceptions towards this mutual goal. That being said, only one-possibly two-of your former teammates are in a position to help or be trusted to help. We'll see what happens after Freedom's Progress."

The two people that the older man was talking about were Tali'Zorah vas Neema and Garrus Vakarian. In truth, the Illusive Man had no idea where Garurs Vakarian was. He'd be an asset to the team, but he'd simply disappeared from the Citadel and even the Illusive Man couldn't find him. Tali'Zorah was technically free to help, but the Illusive Man had no sources within the Flotilla who could confirm whether or not she was free.

While he wasn't a fan of the two working with aliens, he knew that appearing moderate and keeping friends around them would be the best way to ensure cooperation. If that meant that he had to deal with non-humans, then so be it.

"Understood, sir." Staff Sergeant Shepard replied, as respectful as ever.

"Miranda and Jacob will accompany you to Freedom's Progress." The Illusive Man told them, "Miranda is one of the best Operatives I have. Jacob is a loyal soldier and though I know he has no love for me or the organization, he'll do what's right."

"Understood." Commander Shepard replied, right before she walked out of the transmitter. John spared the Illusive Man another glance, then disappeared along with Jane.

The Illusive Man shut down the channel and then moved his attention to another problem.

He pulled a datapad from the floor where he'd left it after getting the news. With the light of the dying star behind him, he was easily able to read the report, his bright blue eyes shining as they flicked through the words.

A joint human-asari colony by the name of Asteria was having an election for their governor. The asari had put forth a winning candidate with a blatantly anti-human platform. The Illusive Man's thin lips curled up in a smile as he activated a channel on the interface at his side.

"Leng." He commanded, "Get up here. I have a job for you."

A pause, then,

"On my way." A self-assured voice answered.

The Illusive Man let the small smile linger as he looked back down at the datapad.

"Always let them know you're still around." He muttered in the darkness.

_**As a note: any scene with the Illusive Man probably won't run as long as other chapters. They aren't meant to be long-winded events.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**John Shepard - Freedom's Progress**_

John glanced around the cramped shuttle that they rode down to Freedom's Progress. They'd jumped here on a cruiser, utilizing a Mass Relay on the way through. That meant, wherever they were, it was a different set of systems than the one the Cerberus Base had been in. In fact, he'd guess from the time the jump had taken that they were an entirely different set of systems.

John was lost in thought, but another emotion rose to his mind unbidden. He was a little angry that he was being used just for a chance to get things back to the way they were. The only thing that made it better was that his sister was just as annoyed as he was to be working with terrorists. His glance strayed over to Miranda.

Operative Lawson was, as ever, an ice queen. John could tell that she seemed to have some semblance of ethics, but was entirely too comfortable operating in a moral grey area. Still, John had seen her put down a few mechs on their way out of the station. So he could at least be assured that she knew what she was doing. He still wasn't quite sure why she was insistent on running around in a skin-tight outfit in what might be a combat situation.

John had seen plenty like Jacob Taylor in the Marines when he'd been in garrison. They typically manifested as loyal, but disgruntled men. He wasn't entirely sure if he trusted the Cerberus soldier, but he'd fought alongside John's sister and as such, Jane seemed to have some faith in him. That was enough for John.

Still, he knew they didn't trust _him. _He couldn't blame them, given that he trusted them just as little.

"So what are your orders, Commander?" Jacob asked Jane.

John watched with amusement as his sister shook herself out of exhaustion and looked around at the three of them. In the darkness of the cramped shuttle, the crimson lines on her face looked all the more intimidating, even to John.

"There could still be survivors down there." Jane answered, "If we find any, they become our priority."

"I doubt we'll find anyone." Miranda argued. John watched as Jane gave her a rather severe look, prompting Miranda to hurriedly add, "But if we do, they'll probably know what happened."

"And it'd be nice to find survivors, for a change." Jacob added. John could agree with that. Even the geth didn't have the technology to just make an entire colony vanish without a fight. At least, not in a way that'd leave the structures standing.

They landed quietly in a deserted spaceport. When they all piled out of the shuttle, John took a look at their surroundings.

This place was unnaturally quiet, with small modular homes and shipping crates stacked all around. It was dark, save for the places lit by floodlights. This very much reminded John of the colony back on Tiptree, if a little less developed.

"Something is very wrong, here." Jane muttered as John unconsciously pulled the pistol he'd been given from a holster on the side of his armored thigh. Needless to say, he agreed with her sentiment.

"I don't like this." He heard Jane mutter. "Weapons out, everyone."

Jacob and Miranda heeded his orders, pulling their weapons from their holsters. John couldn't help but notice that he'd been given a pistol, while his sister and Jacob both had the standard-issue Avenger assault rifles. Miranda had the same pistol she'd had before, but John was sure that it was out of preference, not mistrust.

Still, John ignored the inequality. He could do just as well with a pistol as they could with assault rifles. A part of him couldn't wait to see what he could do, either.

They moved into the first home. John looked around at the decorations. It was creepy. There was almost no sign that anything had gone wrong. Chairs were still in place, food was still on tables and some appliances were even running.

John contemplated what could possibly have done this as Jane suddenly swung out into the doorway and opened fire on something. Sensing a chance to show his sister (And himself) what he could do, John rushed past her. Almost immediately, he was peppered with small arms fire, though his shields caught most of it.

There were three mechs out in a small courtyard between three of the homes. Two of the bipedal types up some steps that were shielded by a wall and one four-legged mech that looked a lot like a dog. Jane was opening fire on the dog, leaving the two bipedal mechs to John.

John vaulted over the four-legged machine, then sprinted up the stairs. He simply backhanded the first out of the way, sending the machine staggering. He put the barrel of his pistol to the head of the mech and pulled the trigger, blowing the mech's head clean off. He spun, to deal with the other one, only to watch in disappointment as the mech's body jerked, being torn apart by impossibly accurate fire from Jane.

The mech dropped and John saw a little bit of a smirk on Jane's face as she brought the barrel of her assault rifle down. John had to admit that he was a little bit impressed by the speed and accuracy of his sister, as always.

"Looks like you can run faster than the rest of us now, too." Shepard said, stepping out of cover and to the door.

When the door opened, John was treated to a strange sight.

Three quarians were surrounding a table, studying something on it. They were all wearing some type of full and tight-fitting bodysuit, complete with helmets that looked like they had some sort of rebreather on the front. They were smaller than the average human, but built so similar that John would be tempted to think they were until he noticed their hands and feet. Each hand and foot had three long digits, compared to the five that a human usually had. Their hips were also substantially wider than any human hips.

His thoughts immediately traveled to Tali, but he tore them away. He didn't have time to worry about an engineer.

_Possible enemies. _John thought, instantly going for his weapon. He was alarmed to see the aliens glance over at the group, then grab onto their weapons. Both sides brought their weapons up at the other.

"Cerberus!" One of them yelled in a thick accent. Their voices were nearly mechanical, undoubtedly from being filtered through whatever was over their mouths.

John couldn't trust these people. He knew Tali, but that was the only quarian he'd ever met and he could tell that she wasn't the perfect representation of her species. Plus, they were aiming weapons at his sister. He tightened his finger around the trigger, preparing to fight should any of them give him the slightest excuse.

"Prazza!" A female voice yelled, startling John into taking his finger off the trigger. A figure in the same kind of bodysuit streaked in from the left. John noticed that unlike the others, she wore some sort of dark violet hood over her helmet, leaving only the mask visible. Her suit was also a little more intricate, with the same violet color running down her sides and in drapes across her wide hips. Further evidence of her gender were her breasts, shaped just like a human's. She forced the lead alien's weapon down, then looked at the Cerberus group. Her eyes seemed silver behind the tinted mask that obscured her face. "You said you'd let me handle this.

John knew that voice and he knew that body. Both had changed, slightly, but it was her. He'd heard that irritating voice so many times when he was trying to work that he could identify it through a full-on gun battle.

"Tali?" Jane and John Shepard said, both voices surprised.

John relaxed a little, at least confident that Commander Shepard could take hold of this little situation without a problem. Though he had no love for anyone whose allegiance he couldn't discern, he knew Tali meant no harm, at least.

"Wait..." Tali said, her eyes torn from her squad and fixed on the two of them. "I know those voices. You...you can't..."

"They're Cerberus!" The lead quarian yelled, trying to bring his weapons up. John noted that the little light on the end of their mouthpieces lit up when they spoke. He also noticed that there seemed to be a little bit of a delay between the flickering light and the audio reaching his ears, indicating that the earpiece program Miranda had given him when he'd woken up was a bit behind.

"I said put those weapons down!" The woman commanded, forcing the three quarians to grudgingly lower their weapons. John lowered his weapon, as did the rest of the group. She turned back to the group.

"Jane...John..." Tali breathed, seeming completely dumbfounded, "Is that...really you?"

"Remember the data I gave you?" John asked, "Did it help you finish your Pilgrimage?"

"Yes." She answered quietly, almost reflectively. "Yes it did. Prazza, these are definitely the Shepards."

John reached up to his helmet, drawing the wary eyes of all the quarians, Tali included. He tore the helmet off, letting Tali look at his face. Her eyes were impossibly wide behind the mask as she took him in, then turned to see Jane doing the same thing. Tali glanced at her for a moment before looking back at him.

"You look so different." She whispered. John gave Miranda a pointed glance before turning back to the quarian.

"I was no more than scraps of meat when I was found, apparently." John said. "I know it's not pretty, but it's me now."

The other quarian looked confused, if his body language was to be believed.

"What's are these two doing with Cerberus?" he asked.

"I...I don't know." Tali answered. "Maybe we should ask them."

"We died, Tali." Jane answered simply. "Cerberus spent two years and billions of credits bringing us back."

"Likely story." The other quarian replied smugly, crossing his arms, "Who spends billions to bring two soldiers back?"

"You haven't seen the Shepards in action." Tali shot back to her subordinate, "Trust me, it was worth it."

John hated to admit it to himself, but he was believing Tali more as an ally with every word she spoke. Clearly, Jane had commanded some kind of deep loyalty from her that John hadn't noticed on the _SSV Normandy_. John hated to admit it to himself, but he'd never been kind to the woman and it was clear now as she more or less excluded him from the conversation with Janes.

"We're investigating the missing colonists, Tali." Jane replied. "Cerberus is concerned about why so many people have just suddenly gone missing."

"We're after someone as well." Tali agreed with a nod. "One of our people was here when the colony was hit."

"What makes you think he's alive?" Jacob asked.

John couldn't see the expression Tali threw the man, but he could imagine it wasn't a good one. John had already come to the conclusion that quarians didn't hate humans, so much as they did Cerberus. Which was no surprise to the Marine.

"We saw him." Tali finally said, "When we landed."

"Why isn't he with you already?" Jacob asked. "Since he saw you land?"

"He's...frightened..." Tali said, shifting uncomfortably. "He-"

"She means to say that Veetor is sick, probably delusional." Prazza answered, "He undoubtedly had a tear in his suit and went feverish."

"He'll probably know what happened." John pointed out, stepping forward. Tali looked at him again, visibly shrinking back at his imposing stature. John felt a small twinge of shame, for unintentionally intimidating the woman, friend or not. He stopped moving, trying not to cause any more problems.

"It'd be best if we worked together on this, Tali," Jane told the quarian woman.

"Yes." She agreed, "That would be for the best."

"We're working for Cerberus, now?!" Prazza exclaimed, outraged.

"No, Prazza, you're working for me." Tali answered, her voice severe. "If you have a problem with that you can go wait on the ship."

John was surprised by the woman's tone. Last he'd checked, Tali had been a fish out of water, if anything. She'd held up on her own in a fight, but she was far from a battle-scarred veteran.

"Jane." She said, "Whatever happens, it's good to be working with you again."

"You too, Tali." Jane said. The woman gave her a nod and slipped out of the door.

John watched Jane turn to the rather surprised Cerberus operatives.

"She'll be solid." She assured them. "Let's move."

The group followed Jane out of the room and onto a descending ramp. As they moved forward, John observed some small mechanical objects zip overhead. He couldn't be too sure, but they seemed sort of cylindrical, with 'wings' on the bottom. He'd also seen some sort of weapon attached, though the appearance had been too quick for him to get a hold of what the weapon had been.

They moved into another home, this one with some sort of wall locker across from the door. A folded up bipedal mech started to raise itself up, but Miranda reached out and the thing froze, caught in some sort of blue field. With an unhurried air, she switched to her SMG and put a string of gunfire into it.

"What was that?" John muttered as the team started ahead of him.

They stepped outside and John immediately heard the low whoosh of a rocket headed his way. He jumped forward, landing on a shoulder and coming up to a roll as he both heard and felt a small explosion behind him. He saw a doorway ahead of him and ran to it, pressing himself to cover on the frame.

He looked around the doorway to see the same kind of drones he'd seen earlier (But more, of course) shooting some kind of tiny missiles at the rest of the team, who were crouched down behind a wall. John watched Jane put down one that tried to fly around their flank and decided he needed to get into the fight.

John stepped out from behind cover and saw one of the drones about to fly overhead. He coiled his legs beneath him and jumped, swinging a hand out and grabbing it. He pulled the drone down as a missile narrowly missed his head. John slammed the drone on the ground, causing a satisfying cry of electronics. The Marine stomped on the remnants, just to make sure.

In the time he'd done that, Jane had shot another couple down, while Miranda provided some sort of biotic forcefield to give Jane cover enough to stand. Jacob was covering the corner and as John watched, he put a trio of rounds into a drone that had perched itself on an adjacent house.

That was the last of them. John looked at the team and saw Shepard glancing curiously at the bits of metal scattered about.

"You do that?" She asked.

"Yep." John answered. Jane just nodded and waved John towards her. The Marine followed the Commander, through the same adjacent building the drone had been sitting on. Not much to anyone's surprise, it was yet another house.

John was starting to feel really unsettled. There were no signs of struggle, nothing wrong at all except for the fact that nobody was there. He even noticed a faucet running nearby, indicating that somebody had been stopped right in the middle of pouring water. But there were no signs of struggle around it.

When they emerged onto a flight of stairs, there was no resistance. There was a large door in the distance, John supposed it was for moving equipment in and out of secure areas. They were about to move forward when Jane suddenly pressed a hand to his ear.

"Got it." She said, "We're on our way, Tali."

"What's wrong?" Miranda asked as they descended the stairs.

"Veetor reprogrammed a heavy mech." Jane replied, "Tali and her team are pinned down. She'll open the door once we're in position. Let's hurry."

The group rushed down the stairs and to the door. They stacked up on the edges of the massive frame before Jane told Tali they were ready.

The door slowly slid open and already, John could hear the sound of machine gun fire. They were in some sort of supply area, with crates and boxes scattered about. There was a large clearing, surrounded by three buildings. John could see the quarians dug in behind cover of one of the buildings, some of their wounded lying on the ground.

Probably because of the gigantic mech that was pouring rapid fire on the walls of the house, trying to exterminate the quarians within. It stood about a foot and a half taller than John and it was built much bulkier than the standard bipedal mechs they'd come across so far. A small 'head' was at the top and both of its arms were encapsulated by some sort of weapon. From the cyclic rate of fire, John could tell the weapon on the mech's left arm was a machine gun.

Even John would have a hard time facing that thing head-on. Which means they needed a plan. He looked at the mech, thinking as it rained fire on their positions. Then he saw the small separation between its head and body that could allow one to get something down in there.

_Something like a grenade. _

"Jane." John said, getting his sister's attention. "If you can keep that mech distracted, I can take care of it."

Jane didn't waste time wondering, to John's appreciation. She gave the Marine a nod and swung out from behind cover, firing his assault rifle. John watched with no small amount of alarm as a missile streaked past Jane, but the Spectre seemed unimpressed as she continued to strafe the mech.

Jacob and Miranda were taking occasional shots at the mech, trying to bring down its shimmering shields before John got there.

It was John's turn, now. He pushed forward with his legs, gaining as much momentum as he could as he started to sprint toward the mech, which nearly had its back turned ot him, now. He jumped, landing directly on the 'shoulders' of the giant robot. The thing reached an arm off, trying to swat him off, but John was too fast. He balled his hand into a fist and drove it down into the visible gap between the head and the shoulders. He felt the clip on the grenade pop off as it was armed. John pushed off the mech and hit the ground before putting some safe distance between himself and the mech.

_Is it..._

With an explosion, the head was blown clear from its body. The mech dropped to its knees and John heard something like a little ticking from inside as the mech glowed red.

"Get down!" He heard someone yell. He was surprised when somebody shoved him hard enough to send him stumbling back behind one of the metal crates. He turned to see Commander Shepard rush in next to him.

An explosion engulfed the entire area, large enough that it would've fried John's shields and possibly taken him down. As it was, heat washed over the two, draining some of the power out of both their shields.

But the fight was over.

"Thanks, sis." John told his sister.

"No problem." Jane replied, stepping out from cover. "That was one hell of a maneuver."

"I do what I can." John agreed.

"No injuries?" John shook his head at his sister. She looked at Jacob and Miranda. Jacob gave her a thumbs up and Miranda gave the woman a sullen nod. "Good. Tali! You alright?"

"I'm fine, Jane." She answered from the building. "We're taking care of the wounded. Veetor's in the security office, you should talk to him while we're busy."

The group headed for the building and when the door opened, they were treated to a very dark room, with monitors lining one side of it.

A quarian sat in a chair in front of the monitors, which all seemed to be displaying security footage. The quarian was muttering to himself as he typed on an interface, so traumatized that he didn't even notice the people standing right behind him.

"Swarms..." He muttered, "Swarms of swarms."

"Veetor?" Jane asked, getting no response in return.

John had seen reactions like the one this quarian was going through. He typically saw it in civilians who had recently been met with battle or in new soldiers who'd faced down a massacre and survived alone. He wasn't a psychiatrist and wasn't really able to help the young quarian in front of him.

"Swarms are coming." He said, "Scores, swarms, scores..."

John watched with interest as Jane sighed and loaded a program into her omni-tool. She held her hand out to the screens and they all went blank, showing only a red exclamation mark to infer some sort of technical trouble.

With nothing else to focus on, the young quarian turned around and looked at the group.

"You..." He muttered, sounding amazed, "You're human...how did you get past the swarms?"

John had no idea what the kid was talking about and apparently, neither did anyone else.

"We just got here, Veetor." Jane said, "Who took the colonists?"

"We tried to hide." Veetor replied shakily, his voice strained as he gestured to a monitor. John leaned in to see some a pair of some sort of insectoid bipedal creatures displayed on the screen, with a hovering casket or something in between them. "I put the surveillance footage together on my omni-tool."

_Insects. _John thought to himself, _Great._

"The swarms paralyze you." The quarian continued to ramble. "You're powerless. They didn't attack me, I don't know why-"

"That's probably the best we're going to get out of him." Miranda said, "Let's get him back to HQ and get the information on his omni-tool."

"What?" Tali said from behind them, causing them all to turn. "No, you can't take him with you. Veetor's hurt. He needs medical attention, not an interrogation."

"We're not going to harm him, ma'am." Jacob assured the woman, "We just want the information about this colony's attack."

"You can take the data off his omni-tool." Tali said, "But Veetor comes with us."

John looked to the Commander, who had stayed silent throughout the conversation. When she looked up, John was surprised to see a little bit of desperation in the woman's eyes. It made sense, in a way. Jane, like John, had spent the last day in the company of very unfamiliar people she didn't know who wanted something out of her. She wanted a friend, someone she could trust. Quite frankly, John wouldn't mind having a familiar face, even if Tali wasn't really a friend.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Tali." Jane said, "We can send Veetor back and you can come with us."

"I..." She started, then seemed to ponder for a moment. "Well, I am finished with my mission...but only you can be charge of me, Shepard. Not them and certainly not him."

The last bit was directed at John, who didn't begrudge it. He knew she hadn't enjoyed working under him during the mission with Saren.

"That won't be a problem." Jane assured her, smiling.

"Then I'll join you." She said. "It'll be great to work with you, again."

"Thank you, Tali." She nearly whispered.

_**For those who read this before I proofread it and deleted a couple parts for the millionth time before reposting, this chapter was originally part of another story (Halo/ME) that I deleted and I've been using parts of the other fic to build these chapters, rather than create them from scratch. But this was the last chapter that I did in that story, so everything here on out is completely original.  
**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Garrus Vakarian - Omega**_

Garrus reached out as a round shot past his helmet, the whine barely fazing the battle-hardened turian.. He caught a standing pole in his hand and used it to swing around a corner. He continued running towards a defunct eezo storage area that he called a fortress. There was one way in or out, save for some underground passages. There was a nearly endless supply of thermal clips. It was designed to withstand a siege and it was supposed to be an emergency for his team to fall back on.

_My team..._

They weren't all the most upstanding people he'd ever met, but they'd wanted to make a change and he'd failed them. If he wasn't busy fleeing from bullets, he would've taken a moment to reflect that. He hung another left, outpacing the krogan behind him as he saw the base up ahead. He sped up, pulling a detonator out of an armor pocket as he gasped for air.

_John would be ashamed. _He lamented.

"Right on your ass, Archangel!" A krogan bellowed. Blood Pack, undoubtedly. Garrus had decimated several of their 'caravans' before. They were brutal, vicious fighters. Usually, they consisted only of krogan and vorcha, making them the worst of the lot.

_They sound like they're in position._

The area was abandoned, an area that Garrus had likened to a warehouse district on Palaven than anything else. That meant that there was an extremely low chance of civilian casualties in what was about to transpire. He didn't want his legacy, his last stand, to be tainted with the deaths of innocents.

Garrus pressed one of the buttons on the detonator. A concussion behind him nearly made him stumble, but he heard the yelling and screaming of the dying. That was the important thing. As he neared the entrance of the building, he felt a round ping off his armor and figured someone with long range weapons had joined the fight. He hit the next two buttons, detonating explosives down the sides of the long corridor to the bridge.

Garrus heard more screams, more death. It didn't faze him anymore. He'd worked with the Shepards and he'd spent his last year and a half killing hundreds. Omega had been an obvious choice, the criminal station requiring only that he point his gun in pretty much whatever direction he felt like and pull the trigger.

Omega was a varren pen all its own. There was Aria'Tloak, the asari crime lord who ran pretty much every bit of criminal enterprise in the Terminus Systems. After that, of course, were all of the mercenary groups that ran their little separate pieces of Omega. Then there were the more crazy parts of Omega. Garrus had even seen an old salarian doctor in the slums who'd mowed down a small assassination team sent by the jilted gangs.

Garrus had hoped he could come to Omega and clean it up. First he took care of small street crime, then he'd move up to gangs, then to the mercenaries. Finally, one day, he'd have worked his way all the way up to Aria T'Loak.

_But for Sidonis._

The mercs had gotten fed up with him and his team and picked out one of his group. Garrus didn't know what price Sidonis had, but good people had died at the ambush he'd set up after luring Garrus away. His only regret, now, was that he wouldn't get to put a bullet through the coward's skull before he died.

He wondered how many he'd take with him. Dozens? Hundreds?

_Maybe my father was right. _Garrus thought to himself as he activated the last explosive. The last one wasn't meant to kill people. The force of the explosion made Garrus stumble and nearly fall, but he managed to keep his balance as part of the roof behind him collapsed and buried the bridge in rubble. It wouldn't buy him too much time, but enough to get set up.

Garrus pushed on into the complex, his lungs screaming for air as he continued to run. There were stairs to the second level up at the top and Garrus jogged up them before heading to the room on the right, the one with the perfect view of the bridge.

When he made it into the room, he slammed a hand on the control panel next to the door, initiating the lockdown. There was a rumble below him as explosives collapsed every single passageway into the building. Garrus quickly pulled dozens of thermal lips out from around crevices in the room, then made his way to the window at the end to find a pair of Eclipse mercs gingerly trying to get across the rubble.

He expanded Mantis sniper rifle on his back. The Mantis operated on a very simple principle that most traditional sniper rifles were built on: One shot, one kill. Garrus was the best sniper he knew and it was something he'd trained for even during his time with Citadel Security. Even his visor was built for it, the display over his eyes assisting in filtering out distracting lights and using dozens of scans to illuminate life-forms.

He sighted in on the first Eclipse merc and managed to get his frenzied breathing to slow down long enough for him to get his sights aligned and pull the trigger. With a loud _boom_, a round the size of a grain of sand erupted from the barrel of the weapon and accelerated towards the mercs head, blowing it nearly clean of his body.

Quickly, Garrus switched targets to the second merc as he noticed more falling in behind. He continued, sighting in and killing with laser precision and pinpoint accuracy. He tried to think of a way out as he fired, seeing entire groups of mercs quickly setting up barricades.

_Jane, _He wondered, finally using her first name despite his refusal (and her urging) to use it. _What would you do? _

Not a question she could answer. She was dead. She was dead and Garrus was about to join her with the Spirits. He still remembered her eyes. He'd never cared for the naive woman, but in her last moments, she'd shown her character when she'd shot at him and sacrificed her own life to save his and Joker's. He knew her brother, who'd been like his own brother, would be up there as well. He looked forward to seeing them, maybe sharing a drink or two.

There was a small wave of mercs, maybe six of them, that Garrus dispatched with little effort. There was one last thing he needed to do.

There was a quick lull as whoever was leading the assault regrouped to find a better way to kill him. Garrus saw the Blood Pack, the Eclipse and the Blue Suns. The most powerful mercenary groups in the galaxy and they were all gathering to kill him. He almost felt honored. He called up the one person he hadn't spoken to in nearly two years. The one person whose voice he wanted to hear before he died.

There was a tone that indicated the comms unit in his ear was connecting. Garrus waited it out as he saw another group of mercs headed in, this one with snipers flanking them in the distance. Garrus wasn't fooled by the maneuver, tossing a grenade down to the mercs heading for the front door. As it exploded, he fired a round each in the snipers before they could get a bead on him.

"Garrus." Came the voice of his father, the older turian sounding slightly suspicious. Their last call hadn't left them on any kind of good terms. "I'm surprised to be hearing from you. It's been...what? Two years?"

"I don't know how much time I have, dad." Garrus replied. He eyed a few mercenaries who seemed to be congealing at a barricade. Deciding that he had nothing better to do, he started firing into the group as he talked.

"I'm not sure if you were right about C-Sec, about justice, about everything." Garrus started, his words occasionally interrupted by the sound of his sniper rifle as he sent more mercs to hell one at a time, "But I want to apologize. For what I said and the way I left everything."

There was silence as Garrus watched a vorcha with a flamethrower tried to cross the bridge. He activated the incendiary mode on the weapon and sought out one of the tubes to the device and fired, the sheer force of the round punching through the tubes and leaking gas while the incendiaries ignited it. The vorcha exploded in a glorious blaze as Garrus switched back to his conversation.

"You tried to tell me." Garrus said. "Tried to tell me what was right and about doing the right thing, even when it was hard. Sitting here, right now, I think you might've been on to something."

"What's all that noise?" Garrus' father asked. Garrus ignored the question for the moment as a krogan roared in the distance and charged across the bridge. Redundant nervous system or no, the krogan still had weaknesses. Garrus took a second longer than usual and fired again, his shot tearing through the kneecap of the top-heavy krogan. The brute fell to the ground on his face and Garrus finished him off with another round through the back of the skull.

"I'm...I'm at target practice, dad." Garrus answered, not sure if he could even stomach breaking his impending death to his own father.

His father chuckled, not understanding the situation.

"Same old son." His dad answered. "Finish up with target practice. Then call me again and we can sort th-"

Another pair of rounds, these two in a vanguard and an engineer who tried to rush the entrance. Blood sprayed across the ground as they dropped.

"Don't go!" Garrus yelled, panicking. "I...I won't be able to finish up. With target practice, I mean. The targets are...good. And there are too many of them."

The silence on the other end of the line was deafening as Garrus' words finally sunk in on his father, who seemed to realize the gravity of the predicament Garrus was in. Garrus used the lull in forces to pick off a few who peered up from barricades around the other side of the bridge.

"I just...I wanted to say that I'm sorry." Garrus finished.

"Don't worry about that, Garrus." His father answered, the older turian's voice breaking in several spots as he realized he could very well be saying his last words to his son, "You finish up target practice and get back to Palaven so we can sort this out. Your sister's been wanting to see you."

Garrus could barely speak past the lump forming in his throat as he thought of the few still alive who would miss him. He fired again, a round ripping through the chest of an asari vanguard who had tried to cross the bridge with barriers up. With great effort, he managed to continue speaking past the block.

"You'll give her my love, won't you?" Garrus asked, a note of finality in his voice. "Tell her to be good?"

"Just get back here." His father ordered him. "You tell her your damn se-"

"Go to Illium and look up an old friend." Garrus continued, ignoring his father's words. "Liara T'Soni. I left something for you and Solana. Should be more than enough for the two of you to get by for years. When you see her, simply tell her 'archangel sent me' and she'll know what to do."

"Archangel?" He asked, "Like Ome-"

"Sorry, dad." Garrus answered.

Garrus Vakarian, better known by the innocent and wicked alike as the Archangel of Omega, cut the connection off. The lone turian looked ahead at the hundreds of trained killers that he planned to take with him to the grave and put on a grim smile, changing the thermal clip on his weapon.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Cerberus Soldier Jacob Taylor - Normandy SR-2**_

Jacob had been first on the _Normandy SR-2_. He had wanted to make sure that the crew on the command deck were making a good showing for Staff Sergeant Shepard. He knew that Commander Shepard wasn't too uptight, but he suspected that her brother was a whole other story. Honestly, Jacob wanted to get the man's disposition when he got onto the ship.

By now, he imagined they were being talked to by the Illusive Man. Jacob knew they'd fight and argue with him, the same as Jacob fought and argued with Operative Lawson when she got orders from the Illusive Man. He knew that the Illusive Man was in the right, this time. It was one of the reasons he would stand fast with the Shepards. Also, he'd never say it out loud, but he respected the both of them.

"Yeoman Chambers." Jake said, giving the redheaded administrative woman a nod. "What do you have on deck for the Shepards?"

"I've got several intelligence reports put together by Operative Lawson on what she was able to glean from all of the Collector abductions." She started, brushing a hand through her short pixie cut, "I also have several messages for both of them concerning Alliance matters that I will bring up when they have a moment."

"Good." Jacob Taylor said, giving the perky woman a nod. "Carry on, Chambers."

The woman smiled as he walked away, glad to have been of service. Jacob Taylor felt her eyes on him as he turned away to head back up to the airlock. He'd always felt uncomfortable around her, but she at least remained professional until otherwise engaged. He didn't look forward to seeing her throw herself at the Staff Sergeant, but he supposed it would be amusing to watch.

As he strode to the airlock, he caught the sounds of distant muffled conversation. Jacob Taylor did his best not to involve himself in the lives of others, but one of the voices was Staff Sergeant Shepard, a man he needed to know more about. He crept closer, listening in.

"–ust...sorry." The quarian girl, Tali'Zorah, was saying. Jacob had little problem with the woman, as he wasn't a xenophobe himself. The quarian had fought alongside Shepard against Saren, making her both a staunch and formidable ally in his books. "I could've held on tighter or tried to pull you i-"

Jacob had no idea what she was referring to, or why she was so apologetic, but her words seemed sincere and heartfelt. She didn't get to finish her apology, though.

"Bucket." Jacob heard SSgt Shepard cut her off, the derogatory term apparently having been heard by Tali so many times that it didn't even draw a reaction. Jacob felt a little twinge of anger towards the man, but let it simmer. Though it had definitely been meant to be mean, it was apparently a familiar term. "The Normandy was disintegrating around us and you stood your ground to try and save me. There's honor in that and you owe me no apology."

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant." The quarian woman replied.

"Now get down to Engineering and see if Cerberus has toyed around with anything in there." SSgt Shepard ordered the quarian woman. Jacob heard more voices coming even further back from the airlock entrance. "I don't trust these people and I'll be damned if they catch me unawares."

"Will do, Staff Sergeant." The quarian said, sounding almost proud to Jacob's ears. He started walking towards the airlock again, to ensure nobody thought he was eavesdropping. He timed it perfectly, walking up just as the two Shepards, Miranda, Tali and Joker came aboard.

He saw something of a glare in the blue eyes of the freakishly big Marine, but the Staff Sergeant otherwise said nothing. Jacob had to admit that he was thoroughly intimidated by the man. Even before he'd become...what he was...he'd been a very impressive Marine.

His sister gave him an inquisitive glance, undoubtedly wondering what he wanted. Jacob avoided the wide green eyes, before moving his gaze over to the pilot.

Joker was a man that Jacob had several issues with, all of them dealing with the man's lack of a professional demeanor. The Cerberus pilot looked like he hadn't shaved in a couple of weeks and his clever green gaze met Jacob's. He was hunched over as he walked, mostly due to him needing to brace for his brittle-bone disorder.

Jacob glanced at Tali and noticed that the silvery eyes behind the mask were narrowed at him. He knew the history the quarians had with Cerberus and knew she hated him because of it. However, he wasn't the Illusive Man or Miranda and had no need of lies or crass offensiveness (Respectively). He wanted Tali to trust him and would do his best to make sure the young woman did. He looked away from her as the group came down.

"Jacob." Jane Shepard said in her usual drawl, "What do you need?"

"I'd like to know where we're headed, Commander." Jacob answered immediately. "I handle the weapons on the ship and need to be made aware of what weapons you all would like prepared for our upcoming missions."

It was a lie, but Jacob didn't want SSgt Shepard to know he'd been listening in on what he said. Thankfully, Jane answered him before the rather weak excuse became picked apart.

"We're headed to Omega." Jane answered. "I've decided on the way here that, looking at the dossiers, Archangel has the biggest chance of getting killed before we get to him. Most of it due to what Archangel does. John agrees."

"I'll begin plotting a course immediately." Jacob heard EDI, their artificial intelligence, say.

"Who the hell is that?" Joker asked aloud.

"That's EDI." Miranda said, "The ship's artificial intelligence."

Jacob noticed a shift in everybody's body language. The Shepards both seemed to get slightly combative, while Joker scowled in anger. Tali had the most extreme of reactions, her hand inching towards her gun as she shifted onto her back foot, prepared to fight.

"You know," Commander Shepard started, the Spectre crossing her arms, "Helmsmen don't like it when control of the ship is taken away from them."

"During engagements, I operate the cyberwarfare suites and streamline sub-systems." The AI answered immediately. "I do not pilot the Normandy. Mister Moreau's talents will not go to waste."

"Good." SSgt Shepard replied, sounding supremely annoyed. "Make sure it stays that way."

"Now," Jacob started, getting down to business, "Commander, you have several reports waiting for you about the Collector abductions. Mostly night-time reading materials. Staff Sergeant, word of your revival apparently got around really fast, because Yeoman Chambers has a couple of e-mails for you forwarded from Alliance Brass."

"What do they want?" SSgt Shepard growled.

Jacob stood his ground, looking up at the giant of a man.

"I don't make a habit of reading other people's e-mails, Staff Sergeant." Jacob answered immediately.

To his surprise, the Marine gave him an appreciative nod before moving past him towards Yeoman Chambers. Jacob decided to return to the armory. He gave Commander Shepard a salute, much to Miranda's plain amusement, then turned his back on the group and started towards the room, glad to have made a good impression on everybody.

He opened the door to his armory and stepped inside. This was a nice area, with a window on the left that he could look out of while he worked on weapons on the wide table in the middle. There was an armor and weapons locker up on his left that was larger than any on the ship. the idea was that he'd check the armor and arms locker every morning and if anyone needed something done, they'd drop it off with a request.

On the table was a Vindicator assault rifle, one of Jacob's favorite. The Vindicator didn't have a lot of stopping power, but its three-round burst was incredibly accurate. Jacob ran a hand over the bulky, awkward-looking gun. This was the gun that he'd used on the Citadel, when he and Miranda had rescued the Council themselves.

_Don't think about those days. _He admonished, trying not to picture Miranda's perfect figure and the one moment she'd broken out of her ice-queen exterior in front of Jacob. _It'll lead to nothing good. _

He heard the door open behind him and flinched a little guiltily, hoping it wasn't Miranda. He felt a slight twinge of relief when Tali'Zorah walked in, her eyes fastened on him and narrowed. While he wasn't looking forward to conversation with her, he didn't particularly enjoy close proximity to Miranda, either.

The quarian strode to the other side of his table, before crossing her arms and curling her three-fingered hands around them. Jacob tried not to look at the hands, not wanting to deepen the problems she had with Cerberus. He had to admit that he found her slightly intriguing. She would be meek one moment then angry the next.

"I don't like you making nice, Cerberus." She said, "I've heard of what Cerberus did to our Flotilla and I'll have no friends with people who condone that sort of action."

Jacob waited patiently for her to finish, not wanting to be rude and cut her off. When she was done, he gave a singular nod before answering.

"Miss Zorah-" He started.

"Lieutenant." She corrected, her eyes narrowing further.

"Lieutenant." He adjusted without skipping a beat, "I don't like a lot of the things Cerberus does. I've refused to take part in missions before and the only reason I get kept around is that I'm too skilled to get rid of."

"Then why not rejoin the Alliance?" She asked in a victorious tone, thinking she had him cornered.

"You mean the people who are saying these hundreds of thousands of abductions are slaver attacks, I assume?" Jacob asked, drawing silence from the quarian woman. "Even you have to admit that Cerberus is in the right, at the moment."

She didn't say anything, merely lengthening the glare as she watched him. Feeling like he had to continue, he kept talking.

"It's not perfect, Lieutenant." He said. "I don't hate people who are different from me, but I do hate sitting around and doing nothing while tens of thousands die."

"Then how do you feel about the Staff Sergeant?" She asked, her voice a shade less hostile.

Jacob would've shaken his head, had the woman not been right there. He had no intentions of speaking ill or otherwise of the Staff Sergeant, because he knew better than to speak of a man who clearly valued professionalism so highly. Still, he would appreciate some level of cooperation from the quarian woman, so he gave what he felt was an appropriate answer.

"I won't speak of any personal traits of the Staff Sergeant." Jacob answered, the words greeted by an irritated scoff from Tali, "However, he seems to be a better Marine than I've ever seen before and I think he's a fair man."

"What did you people do to him?" She wondered, her tone growing hostile again.

"I can't tell you, Lieutenant." Jacob said, glad to finally be able to answer a question without having to tiptoe, "I'm not a scientist and I was only in charge of security. I will tell you this: The largest piece of Staff Sergeant Shepard was about one-twelfth of his bodyweight. I don't know how Operative Lawson did what she did, but I do know that whatever she did put him back together."

"It's not right." Tali said, her voice growing louder, "It's unnatural and it's disgusting. We may have some small level of cybernetics, but-"

This time, Jacob did cut her off. He held up a forestalling hand and her voice faded.

"Not my call, Lieutenant." He pointed out. "Once again, I just handled security. I only saw the Shepards a few times in the two years I was out there. Look, if you really have an issue with it, take it up with Operative Lawson."

"Maybe I will."

_If it gets you out of my hair, _Jacob thought to himself, _then please do._

Tali'Zorah started to turn, then Jacob called out to her. The woman turned back to him, waiting with arms crossed disdainfully.

"I'll assume you want this conversation to stay between you and me?" Jacob asked.

"Yes." She answered immediately. She stood there for another moment, arms still crossed as she stared at the Cerberus soldier. "Thank you."

The last two words had been insincere, tainted with sarcasm, but Jacob sensed a small undercurrent of gratitude behind them. It was enough, for him. Even if it was a slight amount of respect, he could work with it.

The quarian turned around and left, an air of anger in her wake. As the door shut behind her, Jacob sighed and shook his head.

"This mission's gonna be a nightmare." He muttered.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Jane Shepard - Omega**_

Jane's first thought about Omega was how terrible the place smelled and how dark it was. The dark red lighting did little to endear Jane to the seedy-looking station. They were even confronted outside their docking bay doors by a batarian demanding that they speak to Aria T'Loak, the woman that ran Omega. Jane had been on her way to see the crime lord, when they met a peculiar sight.

An older man stood at the end of the hall, saying something quiet but decidedly harsh to a batarian in civilian clothes. The batarian answered back as they approached, terror in all four of the alien's eyes. He looked up at Jane and her group as they approached.

"Please," He pleaded, "You have to help me."

"No one said you could talk, jackass." The older man said in a rough and accented voice. He brought his knee up and slammed it into the batarian's stomach. With a loud cry, the batarian doubled over and dropped to the floor on his knees. With that handled, the man turned to the group.

He looked to be in about his seventies and as grizzled as they came. He was built large, though not so much as to be inconvenient. His black hair was shorn short and flecked with the grey of age and a stressful life. His left eye was a mean shade of light blue and his other was glazed over from whatever had necessitated a complete transplant of the right side of his face. The man was wearing custom yellow and white armor and was covered in tattoos, one on his neck that Jane was able to identify as a Blue Suns tattoo.

Even around a place like Omega, Jane couldn't imagine a lot of people like the man in front of her running around. If she had to guess, he was one of the men who'd been on the dossiers. Specifically, Zaeed Massani, a veteran mercenary who was supposed to be meeting them there.

The older man looked at all of them, especially taking a moment to eye up John and scan the scars on Jane's face.

"You Zaeed Massani?" Jane asked. At her side, she saw John's hand sneaking towards his gun suspiciously. The action didn't go unnoticed by the merc, who glanced down and crossed his arms with clear annoyance on his face.

"That's me." He said, glancing back at the two Cerberus operatives and the quarian."Judging by the look of you all, you must be my new contract."

"I was told we were picking up one person, not two." Jane pointed out, looking at the batarian with a small frown that didn't express the extent of the normally kind woman's hate for the species.

"Quick bounty." He said, "Dropping him off at Afterlife. Anybody else you got on your recruiting drive?"

"Mordin Solus and Archangel." Miranda answered.

"Archangel..." He muttered, scratching his neck, "We're going to need to get to him fast. He's holed up in a deserted factory and he's been killing off dozens of mercenaries who're trying to finish him off. They're recruiting people to throw at him, which is how I know about it."

"He's got a team." John grunted. "Good, he should be able to hold out until w-"

"No team." The mercenary answered, shaking his head. Everybody went quiet, surprised by the revelation. "He's by himself. Team got killed off about twenty hours ago and he's been fighting ever since."

"Get us over there, Zaeed." John ordered.

"Yeah." He agreed, "Let me just hand this asshole off and I'll join you. There's a batarian on the left near some cars when you exit the terminal. He's directing recruits. Tell him Salkie sent you and just wait for me to get there. I assume Cerberus mentioned a job I need a little help on?"

"They did not." Jane answered.

"I'll talk to you about it la-" He started, when the batarian pushed off the wall and shoved his way past Jane. He tried to get past John, but John planted a hand in the batarian's chest and shoved him hard enough that the batarian lost all momentum and went stumbling backwards back into Zaeed.

"Nice try." He grunted, before roughly grabbing the batarian by the upper arm and dragging him away. The team watched him go, then Jane looked back.

"Alright." She said, looking at Miranda and Jacob. "We need to go in light. We bring too much heat and it's going to look like exactly what it is. Miranda, Jacob, you two stay on the ship for this one. I'll take you out next go round."

"Yes, Commander." Miranda answered, her voice making it clear that she wasn't pleased with the decision. Jacob, for his part, merely nodded and turned back to the ship.

Jane appreciated Jacob's understanding. From what she'd seen, he was an honest and loyal man. It was something that was in short supply in the galaxy.

"That's right, sulk." Tali said as they both walked back towards the docking bay together. Neither of them had anything to say to that.

"Lieutenant." John replied sharply, his tone highly correctional. Tali gazed at him for a moment, then looked at Jane, unwilling to make a fight of it with John.

Jane took the small correction without comment, turning towards the door and gesturing for everyone to follow her. Everyone fell in behind her as they emerged into an open part of Omega. Right ahead of them was a neon sign and a pair of doors that undoubtedly belonged to Afterlife. Jane would've gone in, had she not been pressed for time. She spotted a row of vehicles on a platform on the left and led the group towards a heavily armed batarian leaning up against one of them.

"Salkie sent us." Jane told him without preamble. "We're in on this assault."

"You all look like you'll do better than the last freelancer wave we sent in." He said, gesturing to a larger vehicle made to hold a dozen at a time. Zaeed joined them from behind silently, the mercenary commander giving Jane a nod.

"You've been sending in waves?" John asked as they climbed in. The vehicle was surprisingly spacious and Jane wondered if they could steal it once the mission was over.

_We could certainly use it on the more developed worlds. _She reasoned, but decided they had more pressing issues.

"Yes." The batarian replied as he took off and dipped down over the ledge into the dark and grimy passageways below. There were plenty of vehicles around, though not as many as would be expected on a bigger planet. "He's been chewing through them. I think he's taken down at least seventy-three freelancers, to say nothing of the mercs he massacred at the outset of the assault. Don't worry, though, most of the freelancers were just thugs we pulled off the street. None of them looked quite as...experienced as you guys."

"So what's the layout?" John asked. Jane was always thankful to have her brother along. He wasn't anywhere near as good in the social situations or sharpshooting as she was, but he was a better tactician than she'd ever be.

"Pretty terrible." The batarian growled as they dipped under a small piece of rock that was floating in the middle of the airway, "There's only one way in. He detonated the underground passages to ensure we couldn't come up from underneath. There's a long bridge lacking in any kind of cover that he has covered himself. The guy is a sniper and has nearly unlimited ammo and grenades up there, so every wave has only managed to sometimes slip one guy inside."

"You haven't tried something heavier?" Tali asked. "A gunship or a heavy mech?"

"We tried both." The merc agreed, nodding. "He disabled both of them. Seemed to know right where to hit them."

Jane looked at her brother, who seemed extremely impressed. She had to admit that she was equally astounded that Archangel was still alive. There was one thing that was bugging her, though.

"Does he seem to be trying to escape?"

"No." The merc replied as they started to descend towards what looked like a factory district. "We slaughtered his team and I think he's trying to take as many with us as he can before he goes. So far, he's brought all the merc groups down about a full half."

Zaeed let out a low whistle in the backseat.

"So that's why you're recruiting freelancers." He observed.

"Exactly." The batarian replied, "Without them, we'd be looking at about a quarter of each group. The freelancers have worn him down and he's making mistakes, now. A couple more pushes and we should have him."

"What's the death toll?" Jane asked as they headed down to what looked like a receiving area.

"One-hundred and thirty-four." He answered, drawing an impressed silence from around the group. "Here we are."

Jane was the first one out, striding straight towards yet another batarian, this one in Blue Suns armor.

"Finally," He grunted, clearly pleased at the size and experience level of the group. "Someone who looks like they know what they're doing."

"Who are we reporting to?" Jane asked, giving the man a winning smile.

"Sergeant Cathka." The man replied instantly. "He's coordinating the next wave."

"We're just throwing ourselves at Archangel again?" John wondered, a slight angry edge in the big man's voice.

"That's goddamn suicide." Zaeed pointed out, the words accompanied by an unamused chuckle.

"Pretty much." The batarian replied with a shrug, "But you all look like you can handle it."

"We'll be on our way, then." Jane replied, hearing sparse gunfire ahead and the sound of orders being yelled out.

They made their way around a barricade and found themselves staring right at Archangel's base ahead. It looked as though the entire wide street had been turned into a warzone. Multiple manned barricades blocked their access to the base, but as Jane watched, a small figure popped out from the wide window of the base and fired a pair of rounds, both of them finding targets at their barricades. A pair of mercs fell of the barricade and hit the ground near them with a heavy groan, writhing in pain and trying to get back up.

The street seemed to be littered with the dead of all species and types. There were even mechs dotting the road. The ground was slick with blood and wounded seem to lay everywhere.

"Goddamn." Zaeed observed as they passed through a door into a room filled with vorcha and krogan, all of them wearing crimson. They gave the team hostile looks, but didn't try to stop them. "One turian did all this. This takes me ba-"

"Not now." John replied as they moved into another hallway, this one with a heavy mech in it. They were about to move on, when John stopped and looked at the mech thoughtfully.

"Lieutenant." He said, drawing Tali's attention. "Anything you can do about this?"

"Give me a few seconds and I can have it dancing for you." She muttered, the grin underneath her helmet invisible to all.

Tali sidled up next to the mech and as the team watched, she pried off a panel at the back of the mech and activated her omni-tool, hacking through the mech's interface. After a few moments, she deactivated her omni-tool and put the panel back on, looking up at Jane.

"I just scrambled the mech's Friend or Foe." She said. "When they drop it in, it'll shoot at everything indiscriminately."

"Good." Jane heard her brother reply behind her. She personally felt that Tali deserved more than just a 'good', but didn't raise the issue.

They moved into the next area, which contained the last two barricades for the street before they were on the bridge to the base. Which raised yet another question to Jane.

"Hold up." She said, gathering the group in a covered corner. She saw a merc drop off the barricade across from them, a hole in his head. A pair of freelancers took his spot. "Exactly how are we going to survive the run over the bridge? Archangel's not going to know that we're any different. We're good, but a bullet in the brain will kill us just as easily as it kills those freelancers."

There was a silence as everyone processed that thought and Zaeed spoke up.

"Figure we could just shoot the people we come in with as soon as we're over the barricade." He hypothesized with a shrug. "It'll at least show our intentions. Maybe enough that he'll even speak with us."

Jane looked around to see John and Tali nodding in appreciation of the idea.

"Then we'll do just that." She agreed. "Now..."

She looked around and found a lone batarian working on a gunship whie barking out orders to a bunch of shoddy-looking freelancers. Jane led the group over to them as they ducked behind one of the barricades to avoid the rounds flying overhead. A couple more freelancers dropped and despite how impressed she was, Jane had to wonder if the turian up there was worth adding to her team.

Truth was, she didn't need somebody with a vendetta against all of the criminal underworld. Vigilantes made poor allies, even ones like Garrus whom she trusted. Those with a vendetta would always put his or her cause first against the more important causes.

Still, even she couldn't deny that the sheer carnage he'd caused by himself was anything less than staggering. If he could be broken of his cause, he would be an incredibly valuable member of her team.

"You Cathka?" John asked, getting to the batarian first.

"Yeah." He replied, looking at the group. "You must be the group that Sern mentioned. You all kind of stand out, around here. Anyone tell you what's expected of you?"

"More or less." Jane replied. She saw Zaeed mutter something to John and her brother nodded, looking down at the batarian with a shrewd look. "You joining us?"

"Ha!" The batarian laughed, following that up with a lit cigar before blowing smoke all over the group. "No. I need to get this gunship back to a hundred percent before Tarak takes her out again. You all ready to go?"

"Yeah." John replied. Jane caught a slight edge in his voice that gave her the suspicion that he was doing something devious. "Zaeed noticed that you seem to have missed the engine intake. Looks like Archangel scored a hit to it."

"Yeah." Zaeed said from the back, "Right about here."

"Let me see that." The batarian growled, annoyed.

"C'mon." John said quietly, waving for the group to follow him. Confused, Jane did so, the rest of the group in tow.

"Why did you point that out?" Jane asked her brother, a hard tone to her voice, "We don't want him fixing that gunship."

"I know." John replied. "His engine intake wasn't damaged."

She heard footsteps and turned to see Zaeed jogging to catch up, settling in next to Tali (who seemed very off-put by the battle-scarred human). She suddenly realized what John meant and nodded neutrally, not pleased by the decision but knowing that it had been a necessary one.

Ahead of them was the last barricade, which was only manned by one mercenary while freelancers gathered around it. Most of them looked excited, not seeing how one man could possibly kill them all.

_Little do they know. _Jane thought to herself, bemused.

"C'mon, you sons of bitches." Zaeed urged as they approached the barricade. "Stop hiding behind this barricade and kill that bastard!"

The encouragement did the trick. The thugs and gangsters all grinned and hefted their weapons, jumping up to the barricade and throwing themselves over it to the ground below. Jane smirked as she waited for a few lines of them to get further on up. She heard the blasts of grenades and the barking of a Mantis sniper rifle as she jumped over the barricade with her team right behind her and beheld a dismaying sight.

Almost all of the forces who they'd just let through had already been killed, leaving them in a very open spot with no cover as what was left of the freelancers dropped in around them and died almost as quickly, leaving them nobody to shoot to display their intentions.

Bodies nearly covered the bridge, numbering close to a hundred. The ground was slick with blood and

_Now I understand how he's killed so many. _She realized.

"Let's move!" she yelled, dashing for the entrance of the two level complex, where she could see a pair of mercs setting up a bomb. She saw Archangel, a turian armored head to toe in blue armor, dispatch the mercs around them then turn his rifle on her. She started to summon up a biotic field, but knew she might not be able to get it up in time to deflect the incoming shot.

_No..._She thought to herself, realizing that they were only halfway across the bridge, _I'm not going to die_ _like this. Not so quickly. _

Then the strangest thing happened.

The turian looked out over the scope of his sniper rifle at her, then to her group. Archangel paused, then sighted over them and began dropping freelancers at their backs. The invitation couldn't have been clearer.

Jane felt an outpouring of relief that she withheld until they were inside the structure. Just inside were the two men who were trying to arm the bomb.

"Hey." They greeted, "Good job getting in here. There's a team upstairs trying to break through the door. They'll probably need the extra help."

Jane gave Zaeed and Tali a look as they moved on. She heard a pistol and shotgun blast behind her as they moved to a central square, where there were even more dead bodies that had clearly been trying to make it to the stairs opposite the entrance before they'd been butchered.

They climbed up the stairs and Jane saw a group of six people standing outside the door to their right that led to the room Archangel was squatting in. Jane gave John a pointed nod to his belt, where a trio of frag grenades sat. He silently brushed past her, pulling one up and charging it. He held it for a tense second before underhanding it down the hall.

There was a quick cry of alarm that was unceremoniously ended by a blast that shook the whole floor.

Jane was surprised to find that control panel next to the door glowing green, indicating that Archangel had enabled the controls again. Hesitantly, with her weapon up, she opened the door and swept into the room with her comrades behind her and ready to kill Archangel if necessary.

The turian stood poised at the window in front of her, rifle aimed down at the bridge. He didn't even budge from his position or acknowledged that four heaviily armed people had broken into his room.

"Archangel?" Jane asked, trying to at least get his attention.

Archangel finally moved, putting a finger up to ward her into silence. Assured that he wasn't going to shoot, her she lowered her weapon. Archangel fired and dropped one last merc who'd taken cover behind a crashed car. He spotted no more enemies and finally stood, assisting his ascent with the rifle.

Jane watched as the turian drew himself up to his full height, pulling off his helmet as he took a seat on a nearby couch. Jane gasped when she saw his face.

The grey plates and mandibles were entirely too familiar, built very sleek in the contours of the turian's face. Blue marking ran under his eyes and along his mandibles, meeting along a flat and slitted nose. Sharp, light blue eyes peered out at the group, finding Jane, John and Tali individually.

"It can't be..." Tali whispered, seeming amazed.

"Jane...John..." Garrus Vakarian said, the turian staring at the siblings in the same shock that met his gaze, "I thought you two were dead."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Staff Sergeant John Shepard - Omega**_

John couldn't believe it. Never in a million years would he have suspected that the turian C-Sec officer would be the one who had orchestrated all the destruction on the bridge below. He felt a smile come to his face and looked over to see Jane with a frown on her face.

"Vakarian!" John yelled, enthused, "What are you doing here?"

The tired-looking turian looked up at John, no small amount of hope in his eyes. To John, he could see the fatigue and weariness of the turian and had to wonder to himself if Garrus had any plans on making an escape or if he actually decided to just die in the warehouse.

"Target practice." He muttered, "Just keeping my skills sharp."

"How'd you piss off every major mercenary group in the Terminus systems?" John asked.

"It wasn't easy." He said, his smug tone carrying a small undercurrent of regret and shame, "I had to work pretty hard at it. I'm surprised they teamed up to destroy me. They must _really _hate me."

He was trying to be funny, but John could hear the tone of despair hidden away behind his words. It was a facade, one he wasn't used to seeing from the normally direct turian.

"When did you start calling yourself 'Archangel'?" Tali asked.

"Just a name the locals gave me for all my good deeds." Garrus explained, sounding the slightest bit proudly embarrassed. "I don't mind it, but...ah...please. It's just Garrus to you."

"Are you alright?" Jane finally asked, her voice soft and carrying concern that John had rarely heard her sister employ. She'd always been a bit too much of a bleeding heart, but she rarely showed such a level of genuine concern.

Garrus, for his part, seemed to finally let the facade crumble. He looked down at the ground and John wondered if he was ashamed of his current predicament.

"I've...been better." He finally admitted, his voice quiet and unusually repressed. "Tell you what. Get me out of here and I'll tell you the whole thing."

"What's the situation?" John asked, deciding that it'd be best if they got down to business.

"I'm sure you already got an eyeful on your way up." Garrus answered, striding to the window and checking to make sure nobody was incoming. "There's one way in and that bridge is funneling all those idiots right into my scope. Unfortunately, it works both ways. That bridge is the only thing keeping me alive but it's also keeping me imprisoned."

"There has to be a way out." John murmured.

"It's not all bad." Garrus replied. "They've been decimated so far and with you all here, there's a shot of us getting out of here. They seem to have fallen back. They're planning something."

His words were punctuated by a muffled blast below them, along with a rumbling that nearly threw all of them off their feet.

"Sounds like they've finally gotten around to using explosives to clear the tunnels." Garrus said, "They had to use their brains eventually."

"I can take a team down and secure them," Jane started, "But I'm not leaving you alone."

"Why go down at all?" Garrus asked, to the surprise of everyone. "Best bet is to stay here. I've got the ammo and this base will be damn near impossible to breach with you four here."

"You've been enduring so far." Jane replied, crossing her arms as she stared down the turian, "What's your recommendation?"

"What're you good with?" Garrus asked Zaeed, ignoring the rest of the group.

"Pretty much anything." The merc replied with a shrug. "Give me an assault rifle and I can work wonders, though."

"Good." He answered. "You cover the rear window. Jane, you and Tali guard the back door and mop up anything that slips by the merc. John and I will cover the front window."

"Got it." Jane answered, still looking very angry at the turian. John wasn't sure what her issue was, but he dutifully took the front window with Garrus at his side. He decided to use his assault rifle for this one. He unfolded the standard-issue Avenger from his back and aimed down the bridge to see a dozen or so Eclipse mercs standing around a corner as if waiting for something.

"Looks like they're waiting for the attack from under to come up." John observed. "They'll try to hit us while we're distracted."

"No doubt..." Garrus muttered, looking downrange. "Good thing they don't know you all are here. I have no doubts that we'll be able to fight them off together."

"Please." John scoffed, hearing the sound of gunfire behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Zaeed firing rapidly, only pausing to duck behind cover when fire was returned. "You coulda held out easy. You're the best damn fighter the turians have."

"Not the best, though I'd never tell _him _that." Garrus replied.

"There's someone better than you out there?" John wondered, surprised.

"Yeah," Garrus replied, "But he's got his team and th-oh, here they come."

John looked across the bridge to see the Eclipse mercs moving over the barricade. Garrus fired the first shot, catching a salarian right through the chest and dropping him. John primed a grenade as Garrus brought down two more in quicker time than John had ever seen a sniper aim and fire. John tossed the grenade out to the left into a pair of the mercs.

John didn't bother watching the explosion, moving on to a human and firing a trio of rounds that brough the man down. There was an explosion and John moved on to the next target, sending two rounds through the merc's skull.

"That was quick." Garrus muttered, before a bellow made the two of them turn.

A massive krogan stood at the entrance to the room in crimson armor, his eyes fixed on Garrus. Tali and Jane had both been forced back, trying to deal with enemies behind him as Zaeed kept the pressure on the units trying to come up the rear stairs.

"Archangel!" He roared, "You're mine!"

John felt a smile come to his face. He'd been waiting for a challenge and he _really _wanted to see if his new upgrades could handle a krogan. Garrus moved to intercept the beserker, but John stepped in front of him, throwing down his weapon.

"Actually." John corrected, glaring down the krogan. "You're mine."

The krogan paid John no mind, charging forward to attack Archangel. He was stopped cold when John reached down, grabbed the krogan by an ankle and yanked him off his feet. The krogan bellowed in a rage as he toppled to the ground. John knew better than to stay in close range of the krogan while he was on the ground, so he moved up.

The krogan was focused on him, now. The big krogan charged, but John dodged out of the way, driving the heel of his palm into the krogan's jaw. For most humans, they'd end up with broken bones. However, the force from the blow staggered the massive krogan, who John noted was only slightly smaller than Wrex.

The krogan lashed out with a backhand, but John ducked it, then looped his arm around the krogan's shoulder. He pulled his pistol out and pressed it up against the krogan's throat, right before unloading the entire clip into the vulnerable flesh there. Orange blood sprayed all over the floor and the krogan dropped to the ground, a gurgling cry of anger welling up in his throat. He was silenced when a concussive round streaked between him and John, penetrating up through the krogan's head and exiting through the skull-plate.

The gunfire was more sporadic now, signaling a lull in combat. Jane had taken up Garrus' spot at the window, who was now approaching John.

"Help me with this." Garrus said, tugging on the big krogan's arms.

With a groan, John managed to help Garrus pick the body up. They moved to the front window and heaved, dropping the krogan's body to the ground below.

"First Jaroth-" Garrus told John, nodding to the body of a salarian below, "Now Garm. That's the Eclipse and the Blood Pack down."

"All that's left are the Blue Suns, right?" Zaeed asked from his position. The gunfire had stopped, most likely because the Blue Suns had seen that both of the other merc groups were effectively routed. "Any chance they'll back off?"

"Doubtful." Garrus replied, shaking his head. "You don't really comprehend exactly _how _much they want to kill me."

"That sounds like Tarek to me." Zaeed muttered, surprising them all, "Never was a smart kid. Always too quick to anger."

Garrus was about to ask the merc exactly how he personally knew who was in charge when a loud whine dragged his attention to the window. From up top, a gunship was descending and this time, it looked like Tarak wanted to talk.

"So you think you can just waltz out now that you killed Garm and Jaroth, eh!" He yelled from the gunship's speakers. "Well fuck you, Archangel!"

John could see that Jane had been trying to line up a shot into the gunship's interior as she heard the sounds of gunfire all around her. It seemed as though the Blue Suns were coming through every entrance they could in one final push to kill Garrus.

A missile exploded from the gunship and streaked towards the window, causing Garrus to shove Jane away. The resulting explosion threw John forward on his stomach, facing towards a window where he could see the Blue Suns trying to break through. Zaeed was up front, dropping mercs but being forced down from combined fire on his position.

"Garrus!" Jane yelled, her voice filled to the brim with panic.

"C'mon!" John heard Tali yell distantly as the quarian pulled him up and into cover next to her. He looked back to see Jane engaging the gunship, while Garrus lay on the ground in a puddle of his own cobalt-colored blood. Tali and Zaeed were engaging the Blue Suns troops that had broken through the window to the right. John decided that the most need was there, since he knew his sister could handle a gunship.

He popped out from the metal barricade he and Tali were taking cover behind and fired a pair into a fully armored Blue Sun. He didn't check to see if the man had dropped, moving to an asari who was about to get a shot in on Tali. Feeling the slightest pang of something he rarely felt, he fired prematurely, catching the woman in the shoulder. It was enough that Tali was able to switch targets and send a blast through the merc's chest.

There was a large explosion outside the main window that washed the group with heat, undoubtedly from the demise of the gunship. John heard Jane's Avenger join the battle and in a few more moments, everyone was neutralized.

"Thanks, Lieutenant." John said, patting the quarian woman's shoulder. She didn't respond, rushing over to Garrus. John suddenly realized that the turian hadn't gotten up since he'd last seen him lying on the floor.

"Joker!" Jane yelled into her comms unit as John rushed over, leaving Zaeed to walk around the room and put bullets in anyone still moving. "We need the shuttle over here immediately! Garrus is in need of medical attention ASAP!"

"Garrus?" Joker replied, surprised. "Roger, I'll have Jacob head right on down in the shuttle."

Garrus' eyes popped open, slightly startling John. He gasped for air, the sound made disgusting by the gurgling of blood in his throat. John couldn't see where he'd taken the hit, as he was lying on his damaged side. Garrus' eyes darted around everywhere, taking in everything as John noticed his hand tighten on the sniper rifle.

"It's okay, Garrus." John reassured him, "They're dead. Hang in there, we've got help on the way."

Garrus made no acknowledgement of his words as the turian's eyes once again fell shut.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Mordin Solus - Omega**_

Mordin Solus, salarian doctor, looked down at the batarian on his table. He had a small puzzle here. One that was plague-riddled and had a couple of bullet wounds.

_Two CC's of Hepla-nononono-Heplacore shown to increase chance of cataracts in left eyes._

Mordin Solus considered himself a very simple salarian. He enjoyed simple music, simple food and the deconstruction of genomes to further the science of molecular biochemistry. He scratched at his missing horn as he looked down at the batarian, running countless scenarios and ideas through his head.

His mission was simple: He wanted to save the slums of Omega from the plague that had been engineered against it. It was easy work, morally sound work.

Morally sound was good to Doctor Solus, who had long been involved with the Salarian Special Tasks Group, a special operations arm of the Salarian Union. He knew that no matter how he denied it, his work on Tuchunka and furthering the deadliness of the Genophage was a moral quandary that he couldn't solve even in his old age of nearly forty.

His work in Omega had been appreciated by the locals. Appreciated enough that he'd found a dead ambush waiting for him while coming home one day, with a note from Archangel to call if any further assistance was required.

The small, dark room he was in was covered in blood. If it wasn't vomiting from the plague, it was the blood of those who were caught in the crossfire between the vorcha and the Blue Suns. Some of the combatants had attempted to seek treatment, but Mordin had simply turned them away.

_Plague engineered, but reactions well within normal range of viral reactions. _Mordin thought, humming to himself quietly as he placed medi-gel around the wound and moved to start treating the batarian.

Dr. Solus had already engineered enough of the cure to treat everyone, but he had no means of delivering it. Given a lack of gunshot victims from the in-fighting in the slums, the doctor planned to go himself and disperse the cure using the ventilation systems.

"Doctor!" his assistant yelled. Mordin Solus turned his attention to the assistant, eyebrow raised. "Blue Suns are outside, they want all the humans to come out!"

"Not a move their leader would approve of." Dr. Solus observed. His speech was fast, much faster than was normal in the already slightly quick speech of his people. He always found it helped when processing things to speak aloud and his speech had developed to adjust.

"Apparently, Archangel killed their leader." His assistant said, the human's eyes wide, "They mentioned it in passing when they sent in a batarian to make demands. Archangel took out the heads of the big merc gangs on Omega in some sort of big last stand. Decimated the numbers of all the gangs and they're lashing out, now."

Dr. Solus was disappointed to hear of the vigilante's death. He was never one to grieve much over the dead, his callousness earned over millions of dead krogan young, but Archangel had seemed desperate to help the people of Omega. Not that Dr. Solus hadn't met his type before, but the turian had been willing to follow through and make the lives of the poor people on Omega marginally better by keeping the mercenaries terrified.

"Interesting." The doctor muttered, getting lost in thought. He almost drifted into an endless void of calculations and medical matters before pulling himself back into the reality of his dark, blood-spattered operating room. He looked at Daniel, his other human assistant. "Daniel, pressure dressings on both wounds, then wait five minutes before applying one CC of Vernozen. After that, give the batarian cure. Will avoid thinning of blood to fatal proportions."

"Doctor," Daniel interrupted him, "What about the people out there? The people who cant' get to the cl-"

"Save who you can when you can with what you have." Dr. Solus answered, striding to the door with his usual white lab coat swaying about him. "Will be back in a moment. Please treat patient."

He left a dissatisfied assistant in his wake, but it was a worry he had no time for.

_Best to make examples of these. _Mordin reasoned to himself. _Refusal of treatment insult already, any negotiations will appear weak. Blue Suns will try to exploit weakness in current state of disarray. Most likely trying to assert dominance, with leadership in disarray and numbers decimated._

Doctor Solus strode to the intake corridor, where a counter waited on the right-hand side. A harried-looking female human was typing away at a console, flanked by three former-military humans that Doctor Solus had managed to locate in the slums. All three of them were armed and the salarian noticed the three humans had their eyes trained on the entrance, waiting for the Blue Suns to try to take the clinic.

_Much better my way. _Mordin thought, _Less mess, less chance of civilian casualties._

The woman looked up as he leaned on the counter. He saw terror in those eyes, a feeling he'd seen many times before in those fearing for their deaths.

Death had never been much of a concern to the doctor. It came for everyone at some point and he would gladly take his place wherever he ended up, whether it be with the God of the humans, the Wheel of the salarians or the Spirits of the turians. He had seen plenty of death and he'd dealt his fair share.

"Alyssa." Doctor Solus told the woman, with a glance at the armed men. He appreciated their presence. He doubted he'd have need of them, but they calmed the refugees and had been willing to help at no charge. Good people were hard to find on Omega. "Plan four, when I come back through the door."

"Understood, doctor." She said, the corner of her lips quirking up as she recognized the salarian play he'd quoted. She also knew what happened at that part in the play and exactly what he wanted. "Good luck out there."

"Don't need luck." Dr. Solus answered with a weary smile. "We're smart. They're not."

Doctor Solus strode to the door and opened it to find no less than seven armed asari and turians with guns pointed towards the entrance. All of them were armored head-to-toe in the typical blue armor of their gang. He was surprised none of them got too quick on the trigger, though his shields would've deflected a stray unintentional shot.

"I'm Doctor Solus." Mordin told them coolly. "I am in charge of this clinic. What do you want?"

"We want the humans out here, right now!" The lead asari demanded, her assault rifle still up and pointed at the salarian doctor. "We know what they've done and every single one of them will pay for it."

"They engineered plague?" Dr. Solus answered, feigning surprise and indignation. The asari smiled and nodded, feeding directly into his acting. Had Dr. Solus been able to, he would've smiled. He rarely got a chance to act, anymore. He pretended to turn his words inward. "Been harboring enemies. Need to be dealt with."

"We'll go in and-" The asari started, but Dr. Solus cut her off, holding up a hand to the woman.

"No." He replied, "Innocent civilians in there. No connection to the plague. Will send out the humans in group for you to deal with. Wait one moment."

The Blue Suns foolishly heeded his words, waiting in the room behind him. As soon as the door closed, Mordin gave Alyssa a nod. The woman reached under the counter and activated a control. Doctor Solus heard the door lock behind him and the sound of a door closing behind the mercs. There was a quiet hiss, followed by the thuds of bodies hitting the ground.

Unconcerned, Dr. Solus looked at the three armed humans.

"Williams, Berg." Doctor Solus commanded. "Will finish them off myself. Prop them up at the entrance as a warning, will you?"

"With pleasure, doctor." Williams answered. Both of them moved to wards the end of the counter to come help him.

Dr. Solus heard the door unlock behind him and turned to it as it slid open. All seven mercs lay on the ground, still alive but completely paralyzed. Doctor Solus, as he often did, began to hum his favorite Gilbert and Sullivan tune as he pulled his Tempest Sub Machine Gun from beneath his coat.

_Humans always had the best music. _Dr Solus noted as he put three quiet rounds into the back of the first merc's head. He moved on to the next merc, shooting her and smiling wistfully to himself as he thought of all the music the humans had brought with them to the galactic community. _Genetic diversity led to cultural diversity, which led to musical diversity. Military overrated, culture underrated._

In moments, without breaking his tune, Mordin Solus put a trio of rounds into the last turian's skull as the two armed humans walked in to help drag the bodies out to the Clinic entrance. The salarian doctor looked around to make sure everything was taken care of before he turned on his heel to go back to his operating room.

_Need to finish curing patient. _Mordin reminded himself, leaving seven dead bodies in his wake.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Miranda Lawson - Normandy SR-2**_

Operative Lawson stood silently in the elevator, waiting for it to finish its ascension. After assisting Dr. Chakwas with Vakarian's surgery, she had removed her blood-splattered apron and told Jane and John that she needed to see them in the conference room. Zaeed had disappeared into the trash compacting room, to 'set up a few things'.

The door opened silently and Miranda turned left, heading for the armory. When she entered, she wasn't too surprised to see Jacob there, the Cerberus soldier assembling a Vindicator rifle. He looked up at her entrance and she saw a quick emotion in his eyes that he hid away almost as swiftly as it appeared. It was one she'd seen many times, though never directed her way.

_He cares about me. _She reminded herself, plagued by the man's affections, _He doesn't deserve me, he deserves somebody better. He needs someone good, like he is. I'm, at best, cold._

"Jacob." She said with a nod, "I was going to visit the team and let them know how Vakarian is doing. Want to come along?"

"Love to." He replied, putting down the upper receiver of the assault rifle. Miranda could never figure out why the man enjoyed working on weapons. She'd asked him once and he'd merely told her that she found the work 'soothing'. Then again, she found putting the Shepards back together 'soothing', so she figured she wasn't one to particularly judge.

He followed her out of the door and to the conference room. When she entered the room, she strode to the head of the oval-shaped table in the middle room and looked around.

John looked faintly worried, though he did little to show it on his face. Miranda knew the signs, though. She knew what to look for in a man to indicate when he felt fear. The big man was barely displaying it now, his worry for his friend undoubtedly clashing with his stoic professionalism. She had to wonder if the man would ever loosen up. She appreciated professionalism more than most, but Staff Sergeant Shepard was nearly a robot in more ways than just his cybernetics.

Jane wasn't bothering with the pretense of professionalism. As Miranda stepped, the woman's blue eyes fixated on the Cereberus Operative in anxiety. Miranda had to admit that she didn't much care for the woman, but she at least seemed to be a gentle soul. Or at least, as gentle as she could be while running across the galaxy as a Spectre tasked with a job that required killing hundreds, if not thousands. Miranda knew that the turian in the med-bay was a steadfast comrade, though she sensed that Jane was personally disgusted by the turian. She didn't have to guess why. Jane was nearly a saint and Garrus was a vigilante, those two personalities must have clashed several times.

Tali stood at the corner of the room, her silver eyes fastened on Miranda. The Operative knew the quarian hated everything about her and she suspected that part of it was jealousy. It was a feeling she was used to getting from women and she knew the quarians weren't that far off from human by any stretch of the imagination. She also knew that the quarian woman didn't seem to have as much of a problem with Jacob and that Jane liked her a lot more than John did. Miranda had thought the bad blood between John and Tali would be exploitable until she realized that Tali trusted John, she just didn't like him.

All these observations were gleaned in moments as Miranda stretched her hands onto the table and leaned into them before looking up at Jane.

"The surgery was a success." She said. There was a discernible easing of tension in the air, much to Miranda's pleasure. While she didn't particularly care for the turian, knowing full well that he was yet another candidate to take her place should she be deemed unnecessary by the Shepards, she harbored no ill will towards the man. Honestly, she had to admit that she found him to be quite impressive, given the kill count he'd racked up during his stand at the warehouse. "Far as I can tell, he'll have full functionality, but it'll be a while before he's up and mov-"

The door slid open behind her and she watched every set of eyes move behind her. She felt a strong presence to her back and turned to find none other than Garrus Vakarian there, the tall turian staring around the room. Heavy, marred scarring streaked across the right side of his face and the cybernetic patch they'd attached to the right side of his head stood out plainly against his armor.

There was a brief moment where Miranda saw no end of emotional agony in the turian's eyes. It swiftly disappeared as his icy blue eyes landed on John and his mandibles seemed to lift slightly, indicating a smile.

"You guys know I hate it when you talk about me behind my back." He joked. Miranda had never heard his voice before and now she found it was very smooth, for a turian.

"Tough son of a bitch." Jacob muttered from next to Garrus. The turian spared him a glance, then Miranda watched his gaze move up to John.

"Nobody would give me a mirror." Garrus complained. "How bad is it?"

"Hell, Garrus." Jane replied, "You were always ugly. Slap a fresh coat of face paint on there and nobody will be able to tell the difference."

Garrus chuckled, then groaned aloud in pain.

"Dammit," He grunted, "Don't make me laugh, my face is barely holding together as it is. Of course, some women find scars attractive, you know."

"Uh-huh." Tali answered, sounding amused.

"Of course," Garrus continued, "most of those women are krogan."

The Shepards and Tali had a good laugh at that. Miranda abruptly felt out of place in the room, realizing that she and Jacob were intruding a little on the reunion. While she didn't pretend to care about social graces to most people, this was her team at the end of the day. She didn't want to cause friction.

She gave Jacob a nod to the door and he followed her lead as she strode out of the room. When the door closed, they both turned left and headed back into the armory.

"Zaeed told me it was one hell of a fight." Jacob informed her. "The Shepards annihilated everything, according to the merc."

"We'll see." She measured. She still had her reservations about whether or not all of the money they'd spent on the two of them was ever going to be worth it. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened behind them and the rest of the group exited from the conference room. Miranda noted a glare from Tali on the way by before she and Garrus exited. Miranda looked at the Shepard siblings questioningly when they stopped before the two.

"Jacob, Miranda." Jane said, "The two of you are with us. Garrus has information that Doctor Solus is running a clinic in the slums, which seems to be the whole station, to me. Apparently, Aria T'Loak has quarantined the area, but we should be able to get in regardless. So the deal is that I'm splitting the team."

"Splitting the team?" Miranda asked, non-plussed.

"Apparently," John replied for his sister, the big Alliance Marine crossing his arms, "The plague that's got the slums locked down has been engineered to target everybody but humans. As such, I'm going to be bringing in you two at the slums. Meanwhile, Jane's going to visit with Aria, with Tali and Zaeed at her back. Best to keep Garrus away from Omega, for the time being. We're going to give it about half an hour of downtime between the missions, so why don't you go visit around the crew, some?"

Miranda didn't like to walk around and visit the crew. As a matter of fact, she hated it. She was terrible at establishing interpersonal relationships, a fact that could easily be gleaned from her account at a singles extranet site. She started to argue, but John's brow drew down when he realized she was about to fight his orders.

"Of course, Staff Sergeant." She answered. "Anybody in particular?"

"You know the crew better than we do." Jane replied, a particularly mirthful look n her blue eyes. Miranda narrowed her eyes at the woman a little, annoyed that she'd been in on it with her brother. "But I know the Helmsman, Doctor Chakwas, the Engineering Crew and Yeoman Chambers would probably enjoy a visit. Hell, wouldn't kill you to talk to Tali and Garrus, while you're down there. Introduce yourself to them and all."

Miranda looked to Jacob to support, but he was staying out of the conversation, quietly putting a Mantis sniper rifle back together. She knew he hated to get involved in conflicts between crewmembers. Or conflict between anybody, for that matter.

_This feels like a mutiny._

When the Shepards left, Miranda looked back up at Jacob, who had dropped the pretense of working on weapons. Miranda suspected he left a couple lying around unfinished for exactly the situation she'd just been in. She arched an eyebrow at Jacob, who almost let a smile slip through.

"No can do, Miri." He told her, "I seriously do have to repair the Commander's assault rifle. I think she broke it on somebody's face."

"Wouldn't surprise me." She muttered. "I guess I'll start my rounds, then."

She decided to meet with Yeoman Chambers first. She found the woman irritatingly upbeat and had fantasized many times about grabbing the woman by the hair, dragging her to the airlock and spacing her. She'd been hoping that Staff Sergeant Shepard would want her off the ship the moment the Yeoman hit on him (which had been during their first conversation). However, Jane wanted the obnoxious woman to stay and John didn't seem to care either way.

"Yeoman." Miranda started, striding up to the woman. Kelly turned to Miranda, a friendly smile on her face that already irked Miranda. "How are your duties going?"

"Very well, Operative Lawson." She answered with a wide grin. "It's exciting that I'm going to get to work with so many aliens. I had a nice chat with Mr. Vakarian before he entered the conference room. He seems...intense."

"He was a vigilante who mowed down three merc gangs almost entirely on his own while he waited to die in a warehouse." Miranda pointed out, "You'd be intense, too."

"I know." She answered with a nod, her face turning serious. "I find him very sad."

"Sad?" Miranda asked, surprised. "He's alive. Why would he be sad?"

"Some people find being alive more of a burden than being dead." Kelly replied, the small frown still on her pixie features, "Mr. Vakarian is certainly one of those. I'd guess he regrets that he didn't die in the warehouse, like he undoubtedly planned."

Miranda went deep into thought, surprised by the woman's insights.

_Maybe I've misjudged her._

Miranda knew the woman had a degree in psychiatry, but had no clue the woman was so perceptive. In time, she could be able to use that to her advantage to sense moods and sensitive people on the ship.

"Thanks for the talk." Miranda replied, backing away from the woman. "It was...interesting."

"Have a wonderful day, Operative." Kelly answered, turning back to her terminal in front of the galaxy map. Miranda just grunted a reply, annoyed by the woman's perpetual enthusiasm.

She wandered up to the bridge, then to the cockpit. The light blue ball that was EDI was projected to the left of the helmsman, who sat comfortably in his chair.

Miranda had never cared for Joker, even before he'd come on to the Lazarus project. The man was unprofessionalism defined and had no love for Cerberus whatsoever. His only loyalty, from what Miranda could tell, was to the Shepards. While it made him a dependable ally, Miranda knew he would be nearly impossible to talk to.

"Hello, Operative." EDI said before Joker knew she was there. Miranda had no idea if EDI had intentionally warned Joker or if it'd been mere coincidence.

"EDI." Miranda greeted as Joker turned around. Up close, she could tell the man hadn't shaved for quite some time, but didn't want to verbalize her displeasure. His green eyes watched her curiously, as if awaiting a scolding, but not really caring about it.

"Boss woman." Joker acknowledged. Miranda ground her teeth together angrily, but still let it slide. "What's up?"

"Operative Lawson." She corrected.

"Yeah, whatever." He answered dismissively. No malice in his voice but his tone blatantly disrespectful. "I get paid by the Illusive Man, not you. And since the Shepards actually...you know...like me, your ass is more expendable than what little I have left."

Miranda clenched her fists, trying her hardest not to lose control with him.

"It was suggested that-"

"Ordered." Joker corrected, seeing right through the choice of words.

"I've come here to get your disposition." She ended through gritted teeth.

"Well." Joker replied, lacing his fingers behind his head and leaning back in his chair. "I'm doing exactly zero flying, since we're docked at Omega. I've got Big Sister up here watching my every move and now I've got you talking to me, despite the fact you clearly don't want to. That'd be about my disposition."

"Well, I have to go." Miranda said, trying not to put her fist through the crippled pilot's skull. "Have fun up here."

"Love to watch you leave." Joker replied offhandedly as she left. At first, she assumed it was a cruel barb, until she realized what he actually meant. She looked back, to see him glancing over his shoulder at her.

She scowled and kept walking, a black mood consuming her as she got to the elevator and slammed the heel of her hand into the controls for it. The elevator descended to the crew deck.

Miranda soon found herself in Dr. Chakwas' office. The older doctor, she liked. Not only was Doctor Chakwas an incredibly proficient surgeon and doctor, but she also joined up with the crew while taking a leave of absence from the Alliance, which was pretty courageous in and of itself. The woman sat with her back to Miranda, her white hair in slight disarray from the thrashing about that had gone on during Vakarian's surgery.

"Doctor." Miranda started, leaning up against the desk near the door. She was happy to have someone to balance out her mood. From what her omni-tool indicated, she was going to be saying something to Vakarian next. That would be an interesting conversation. "You alright?"

Doctor Chakwas turned around, clad in her usual Alliance medical suit. The older woman gave the Cerberus Operative a warm smile that reached up into her grey eyes. Miranda had never met a woman she would've classified as "Motherly" that she didn't instantly take a disliking to. Karin Chakwas was the only exception.

"It was a rough surgery, dear." She admitted, "But I've served with Garrus before. If I have to take a few cuts and bruises in the process, then I'm okay with that."

"I'm surprised you took the time out to come down here." Miranda said with a smile, genuinely please at talking with the woman, "Alliance couldn't have been happy about that."

"The Alliance doesn't know where I am." Chakwas answered, her eyes glittering mischievously. "I'm one of the best combat doctors in the fleet and I know it. Nobody has more need of me than the crew of the Normandy, no matter which one it is."

"If we survive this, I'm sure Cerberus would jump at the chance to hire you." Miranda said, feeling a little bit of hope breaking out behind her voice, "I'd give you a great recommendation."

"Thanks for the words, dear, but I don't work with terrorists." Dr. Chakwas answered, leaning back in her chair as she frowned at the Cerberus Operative. "You and Jacob, you're a good sort. Yes, even you, though you do your best to hide it. The organization you work for, however, is not."

Miranda didn't know how to answer that, but tried on a shaky smile to assure the doctor that there had been no hard feelings.

"I need to go." Miranda told the woman, "Staff Sergeant Shepard has me talking to the crew, for some reason."

"That sounds about right." Dr. Chakwas answered. She cut off Miranda before the woman could even open her mouth. "And no, I'm not telling you why. It's good for you dear, though it doesn't feel like it. We'll talk later."

Miranda gave the woman a nod and walked out, headed for the gun battery. At the door, she stopped and took a preparing breath before knocking on the door.

"Come in." She heard the flanged voice at the other side of the door say.

She stepped into the room to find Garrus Vakarian at the controls for the big cannons, undoubtedly trying his hand at calibrations. He glanced over his shoulder at the woman and gave her a nod.

"Operative Lawson, right?" Garrus asked. Miranda nodded. "I heard you helped sow me up. Thanks."

"Not a problem, Mister Vakarian." She answered, pleased to have at least gotten through the greetings without pissing the alien off. Truth be told, she didn't find any aliens intimidating, but something about Garrus made her very cautious in his presence.

Garrus chuckled, before running a hand up his jaw.

"Mister Vakarian?" He echoed. "What am I, my father? Let's just stick with Garrus, huh?"

"How have you been settling in?" Miranda asked.

_This is going a lot better than I'd anticipated._

"I'll spare you the pretense of pretending I bear any love towards an organization that specifically hates people like me." He fired back. Miranda was about to interrupt to salvage the statement, until he continued. "I don't know if you and the rest of the crew were picked because you aren't xenophobic, but the Shepards seem to have levied you some semblance of trust, so I'll do the same. As for how I'm settling in, everybody's been friendly, so far. Though the shit Mess Sergeant Gardner is cooking looks like a varren's afterbirth. That's not so friendly."

Miranda laughed, despite herself. The Mess Sergeant did what he could, but Cerberus hadn't exactly outfitted him with the best provisions. Another problem was that Garrus (and Tali, for that matter) both ate different foods than humans and asari.

"I heard about what happened at the warehouse." She started uncertainly, not sure if what she'd say next would set him off. "I'm sorry. I've never been in a position like that and it must've been terrible."

"Are you kidding?" Garrus asked, looking at her over his shoulder again and fixing her with that ice-colored stare. "I'd made my peace at the warehouse. I was fine with what was happening. That wasn't the worst part."

"What was?" Miranda asked, honestly curious.

The provoked a reaction, though not an extreme one. Garrus shook his head with a sigh and turned to the Cerberus Operative. She nervously eyed his scarring and the missing chunk of armor near his neck.

"Look." He said, his eyes fixed on the woman. She felt that anxiety again, but stuffed it down. "You're obviously not a friendly person. I appreciate that you're trying and that I'm the next stop on your tour of the ship that was undoubtedly ordered by John. I trust you in combat, but some things will remain personal, if you don't mind."

"Of course." She answered, giving a placating smile to the turian. She couldn't help but notice that she felt slightly offended. "If there's anything you need, let me know."

"Thanks." He replied, turning back to the console.

It was back to the elevator for her. She ended up down in engineering. The talk with Garrus had gone well enough. In the grand scheme of things, Miranda would say he was neutral towards her, instead of hostile like Joker.

Tali, she knew, would be a whole other matter. Quarians didn't trust Cerberus.

_And for good reason._

Operative Lawson knew the reasons behind it. While she could empathize with the idea that the quarian was angry at Cerberus for the attack on her home, she was not so happy that the quarian was shifting that anger towards her. Or that her suppressed attraction to John was causing her to be jealous of the Operative.

_First, the engineers._

Miranda strode through two doors before she was standing behind the two Cerberus Engineers, Ken Donnely and Gabby Douglas. They were working on one console and across a ramp was another set of consoles where John and Tali were. Nobody noticed Miranda slip onto the deck, the hum of the drive core too loud for them to notice the door opening.

"Hey." Miranda started. The two engineers both visibly flinched and turned to her.

Gabby Douglas and Ken Donnelly were both very brilliant engineers. They were complete polar opposites, though. Whereas Gabby was rather high-strung and respectful, Kenneth was very laid back and occasionally overly-familiar. At the moment, though, Miranda wasn't worried about that. She just wanted to get everything over with.

"How are you two doing?" She asked.

"Good, ma'am." Gabby answered, ever the Alliance engineer. Miranda smirked, pleased with the woman's obedience. She'd be, apparently, the only one on the ship. "We're just using our time in Omega to assure everything latched down in our department."

"Good." Miranda noted, "How're the engines?"

"They're fine." Donnely answered, scratching his goatee. His voice had a thick accent to it that Miranda was unable to identify. "They'll hold up better than the engines on the original _Normandy _did."

"I-" Miranda started, until she saw John beckoning towards her. She looked towards the two engineers. "I've got to go. Keep up the good work."

Douglas saluted as Donnelly turned back to his console. Miranda ignored them and waked over to the Staff Sergeant and quarian.

"Enjoy your tour, Operative?" Staff Sergeant Shepard asked.

"Why did you make me do this?" She asked. She noticed the quarian fold her arms combatively next to her, but paid Tali no mind. "Walk around and force myself to talk to everyone?"

"Because you're the XO." Shepard answered, much to her annoyance. "You're also cold and completely unapproachable. A leader needs to be able to be trusted by his or her people and your people don't trust a damn thing about you."

Tali laughed and Miranda shot a venomous glare at the young woman. To her surprise, John looked less than amused, himself.

"What are you laughing about, Lieutenant?" John asked, his brow furrowing as he looked down on an intimidated-looking Tali. "If I remember correctly, you had a squad that wouldn't listen to you because you had no idea how to connect with them. Now they're dead."

Miranda felt a thrill of victory, immediately followed by confusion.

_Is he grilling both of us?_

"Keep doing this, Operative." Staff Sergeant Shepard advised her, turning away from the woman and the icy glare of the quarian engineer. "It's good for you. Now, you should get ready. We have an op to go on soon."

_**Don't worry, it won't be Miranda talking to the crew for the rest of the story. I just wanted her to get up and around so we could see the crew in between missions. I can't believe I'm on Chapter 13 and I'm only at the first recruitment missions. I might start splitting the Shepards and having each take a mission, to keep this thing from being a 300 chapter affair. I might also brush over some smaller side missions in the interest of...you know...not making this a 300 chapter thing.**_


	14. Chapter 14

John was met by a turian at the entrance to the slums. John didn't note any kind of special color coordination or symbols indicating he was in a merc gang or any other kind of gang, so he assumed the man had been posted there by Aria T'Loak, who ran Omega. There was a woman standing in front of the turian who was arguing with him and running her hands through her hair in a clear sign of frustration.

"-bodies burning in the streets right now." The turian was telling the woman, "Nobody goes in or out."

"Excuse me." John started, the two Cerberus Operatives in tow, "I'm out looking for Mordin Solus. I heard he runs a clinic down in the slums here."

"The doctor?" The turian asked, turning his gaze up at John "Yeah, crazy bastards opened a clinic here a few months ago. I hear he's trying to deal with the plague and wish him luck, but I can't let you in to see him."

"Why not?" Miranda asked.

"The plague affects everyone but humans." The turian started to explain, "As a result, humans are being hunted down in there. The vorcha from the Blood Pack have tried to make a grab for this territory, so they and the Blue Suns are battling it out in the streets. On top of that, you've got the plague. Apparently, the doctor's clinic is the only safe zone in the slums. Blue Suns tried to shake him down and get him to release all the humans to them, but he killed the lot of them."

"Sounds like our man." Jacob muttered from behind John.

"Look at us." John replied, "Do we look like looters?"

"Uhhh...no." The turian answered, confused.

"That's right." John shot back. "We're going in to cure this plague and we're going to cut down the vorcha, Blue Suns or anybody else that tries to get in our way."

"Fine." The turian grumbled. "I'll tell the guys back there that you're cleared."

"Wait, you're letting them in and not me?" The forgotten woman demanded angrily, "You son of a bitch!"

"You don't have a grenade launcher, lady." The turian replied, earning him an appreciative chuckle from Jacob. "Get lost."

The group pushed past the turian and headed down a flight of stairs until they reached a barricade in the streets. A pair of armed turians popped up from the barricade, until they realized who it was. They led the trio over the barricade and towards the door at the end of the street.

"Good luck in there." One of them told the group, "Blue Suns and vorcha are shooting anything that moves."

John was interested in this Mordin. Apparently, the salarian was a doctor...who had also worked with special forces during his tenure. He couldn't wait to see what the man was like.

John gave no signal that he heard the turian as he opened the door and walked down another flight of stairs. They were in a small plaza of sorts, at the other end of which was a pair of Blue Suns.

John didn't waste time trying to negotiate with them. He raised his Avenger and put a flood of rounds towards the pair of them before they could react. Miranda swept out to the side and threw a singularity into their midst that pulled the weakened mercs in. John lowered his weapon and gave Jacob a nod. The Cerberus soldier threw out a small but bright ball of biotic energy that slammed into the singularity, detonating the swirling mass of biotic power. The two Blue Suns were slammed into the ground roughly and lay there, unmoving.

John ordered Jacob to make sure the two mercs were dead, which Jacob did uncomfortably. John could tell that he didn't like the idea of killing people that were down, but it was something he'd have to get over.

SSgt. Shepard moved forward on through an intersection, where they were met by yet another group of Blue Suns. These had erected a barricade next to a two story structure, surveying the street. The team had gotten lucky and managed to not get spotted on the way into the building. John had Miranda and Jacob move up to the second story window that looked down on the barricade and wait for his signal.

The Alliance Marine pushed himself up against the barricade and eased around to the street next to it, managing to flank the barricade as he came around the corner. He counted six enemies, all of them armored and carrying regular small arms. He brought his assault rifle up and aimed in on the ones directly on the barricade.

He opened up on them, dropping one and wounding the other before the mercs were able to turn to his position. He turned back as they began to open fire, then Jacob and Miranda started firing down on them from above. A few more fell and tried to move behind a nearby corner, but John swept back out and fired again, slowing the rest down and allowing Jacob and Miranda to pick them apart.

"We're clear." He muttered into his headset. Miranda and Jacob came down and rejoined him and they pushed forward past the corner. There was another hallway with stairs to one side. They could all hear the small arms-fire beyond the gaps on the left wall.

"Taylor, Lawson." John started, "Same plan. Looks like there are two tiers here and..."

He glanced around the corner to see krogans and vorcha clashing with the blue-armored mercenaries in a vicious skirmish.

"And we've got two enemies focusing on each other." He continued. "Taylor, I want you to take the Blue Suns. Lawson, you've got the vorcha."

"And you, Staff Sergeant?" Jacob asked.

"I'll shoot whatever shoots at me." John replied with a shrug. as the two started up the stairs, he loaded a fresh thermal clip into his assault rifle. He waited until the discernable sound of pistols joined the fray and Blue Suns and vorcha started to drop. John moved out, the big man somehow managing to sneak to a low wall one of the Blue Suns was firing in front of.

He grabbed the turian by the visor of his helmet and yanked the merc down, bowing the turian backwards over the wall. He shoved the Predator pistol into the turian's face and pulled the trigger.

The turian went limp in his hands and blood started to drip from the hole in the back of his head. John let the turian drop to the floor before snapping the pistol up and unloading a full clip into the back of another turian, dropping him.

Their comrades noticed a drop in the rate of fire and one Blue Sun turned to face John. He started to yell, until a string of SMG fire took him down.

_Thank you, Taylor._

John pulled the reloaded assault rifle from his back and found a vorcha trying to come over a barricade on the left. He poured rounds into the vorcha as he watched krogan get slammed into the wall by a very strong blast of biotic power. The last two Blue Suns noticed the display and wheeled around. Before they could fire, John had sent three rounds through the chest of the turian on the right. The one on the left twitched and jumped as Jacob flooded him with a hail of rounds.

John looked past them to see the last vorcha fall, courtesy of a headshot from Miranda.

"Good job." He said, beckoning them down as he started forward towards a corner. He peered around to find a section of the wall painted with a white 'plus' sign, with _Med Clinic _stenciled in under it. John was about to approach, when a curious sight stopped him.

On the ground, under the sign, six clearly dead Blue Suns were seated with the seventh in their lap.

"Those must've been the guys that tried to shake him down." Jacob noted from behind John. "He must've put them there as a warning."

"I think I'm going to like this one." Miranda muttered.

John moved forward and down a flight of stairs, putting his weapon away and urging the others to do the same.

John walked into the med clinic and was immediately awash in the stench of blood and death. It was a stench he was familiar with and one he hated. There was a female receptionist, guarded by three armed humans who all had their hands on their weapons as they stared down the heavily armed group.

"Yes?" The woman asked. John noticed her hand under the counter and wondered if she had a weapon down there.

"We're looking for Doctor Mordin Solus." John answered. "I'm Staff Sergeant Shepard, here to recruit the doctor for a mission."

"The doctor's busy." One of the men said, much to John's annoyance. "And the Shepards have been dead for two years."

"Uhh..." His partner said,his wide eyes on John, "That looks a lot like him, man."

"I got better, if you can believe it." John answered, shooting Miranda a glance that did not go unnoticed by anyone. "Look, we don't mean the doctor any harm and if it'd make you feel better, I'll leave these two here and have someone escort me."

The receptionist glanced up at the men.

"I'll take him." One of the guards said, nodding to John to go. John did so, feeling the man fall in. The man maintained a sensible distance and John didn't have to look to know that the man's hand was on his weapon. He was betting the guy was either an ex-cop or ex-Alliance.

He pushed through a room filled with the sickly and wounded, until he got to a small room, where he could hear muttering.

"Have to find way to get this out." A distinctly salarian voice was saying. "Daniel capable, but also naive. Will most likely be killed on the way there."

"How can you say that, doctor?" Another voice asked, this one human.

"Simple." The salarian answered as John turned the corner. The salarian that met John's eyes was tall for their kind and looked distinctly..._older_. His skin was a hue of red in some places, mottled with scars that John would've never expected on a salarian. He found his eyes especially drawn to the right horn, which was nothing more than a stump. The man was dressed in white lab clothes with a red stripe bisecting it, along with a metal device orbiting his neck that John guessed at as a personal shield generator. "He made his choice and he lives with it."

The salarian turned to John and arched an eyebrow at him.

"How can I help you?" He asked. Before John could answer, he continued. "Not visibly wounded, too well armed to be looking for protection, not affected by plague and unfamiliar to me. Which means you're here for me, specifically. Who sent you?"

John was surprised by the alien and a little bit annoyed that the salarian was already a few steps ahead of him.

"My name's John Shepard." He introduced. "I'm a Staff Sergeant with the Alliance Navy on loan to my sister, Commander Jane Shepard."

"The Spectre." Mordin said, nodding. "Familiar with her work. Heard she died a couple years ago."

"Well-"

"Ressurection possible." Mordin continued, cutting the Alliance Marine off. John watched, interested to see if the salarian could figure it out. "Ressurection coincides with recent colony disappearances. Suggests human involvement. Terra Firma stands to gain nothing, Shepard not in line with policies. Alliance not willing to make investment on one soldier, only one other organization with resources for that."

The salarian looked back up at John in surprise.

"Cerberus sent you." He replied. "Surprising. Illusive Man branching out, perhaps?"

"We have other aliens aboard the ship." John answered with a nod. "A quarian and a turian that's known around here as 'Archangel'."

The older salarian looked surprised at hearing the name.

"Archangel?" He asked, "I heard he was killed in some last stand at an eezo warehouse."

"No." John replied, shaking his head. "Archangel is...an old friend of ours, so we got him out of there."

"We've...been acquainted, in a strange way." Mordin mused. "Acceptance of alien signal of change in Cerberus?"

"Not for me to speculate on." John answered with a shrug, "I'm just a soldier. What I do know is that the colonists are vanishing, abducted by the Collectors. We need your help to formulate a response against their bio-weapons."

"Collectors." Mordin muttered to himself, "Interesting. Staff Sergeant, I cannot leave these people while the plague is ongoing. I have a cure that can be dispersed through the ventilation systems, but the vorcha are guarding it."

"There's always a catch." John muttered.

"Cooperation furthers mutual goals." Mordin answered, raising an eyebrow. "Collectors one of the few with technology to engineer this disease. The plague has no effect on humans, insinuating..."

"Insinuating that the Collectors intend to abduct these people from Omega." John finished, lost in thought. "Assuming they started the plague."

"So you help me, Staff Sergeant, by helping yourself." Mordin finished. "When mission is done, I'll join you."

"Very well." John answered. The salarian reached back and handed John a pair of reinforced capsules.

"One last thing." Doctor Solus said, holding a hand out to John to stop him from leaving, "Daniel, my assistant, went out to cure plague. Send him back if you find him."

"Will do." John replied with a nod, before leaving.

He collected Miranda and Jacob and they started through the other end of the clinic, slowly working their way through small skirmishes between the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack vorcha. It took about fifteen minutes until they finally found Daniel.

With three batarians holding guns to him, one of them directly in his face.

"-in your bag!" One of them was yelling as the trio entered the room. "We know you're trying to spread the plague!"

"Boss!" One of the batarians yelled, switching targets to the group. The other two batarians followed suit and the one in Daniel's face looked at John. John felt his lip curl in disgust and resisted the urge to shoot the alien on the spot.

"You with him?" He asked forcefully.

"I'm going to ask this only once." SSgt. Shepard said. "Put the guns down."

"And let this filth run through the streets spreading the plague?"

"Why would he need to spread the plague with vials?" Miranda asked pointedly, "It's already all over the place."

"She's...she's right." The batarian on the right answered. "It doesn't make any sense."

"If we release him, will you let us go?"

"Yes." John answered, his gun still fixed on the batarian's face.

The batarians lowered their weapons and the leader looked at John expectantly. John tightened his finger and squeezed the trigger, sending a round through the batarian's forehead. The short delay between Miranda and Jacob's firing informed him they were surprised at his decision, but he wasn't leaving anything to chance.

He knew how batarians were.

"Oh my God...you killed them!" Caniel yelled, looking up at the big man.

"I just saved your ass." SSgt Shepard growled. "Mordin needs you back at the clinic and we're taking care of the cure ourselves. Now go."

The man looked like he wanted to argue, but the behemoth in front of him was leaving him no room to delay. Daniel stepped past the group and ran down the hall, passing the bodies of dead krogan and vorcha. John looked at a door opposite the one they'd just come through.

"Let's go." He ordered.

They moved into the next room and were surprised to find themselves in the ventilation room. They weren't alone, as they stared down three members of the Blood Pack.

"You will not interfere!" The lead vorcha yelled, an accusatory finger stuck out at John, "The Collectors make us strong. Take humans! T-"

John didn't let him finish his dialogue, loosing a torrent of rounds from his Avenger that tore through the vorcha's body as Miranda and Jacob dispatched the two on his flanks. When the three vorcha dropped, John ran to the console at the end.

"Shit." He muttered, "Power's out. They turned off the air cycling."

"That's not good." Miranda muttered. "That'll make the plague spread faster, with the diseased air being the only air around."

"There are a pair of fan sets we need to turn on." John observed. "One set on each side. Taylor, Lawson, you take one side."

He gave Miranda one of the reinforced capsules and kept one for himself. He slipped it into a pocket on his armor and eyed a stairway down to a passageway on the left side. He started down, before a krogan came barreling around the corner.

John didn't waste time. He could hear the chattering of the weapons belonging to the Cerberus Operatives across the hallway and knew he needed to finish everyone off here. He aimed low on the krogan and unleashed a spray of rounds, some of them catching the krogan's knee. The krogan bellowed and brought his weapon up, but John was already too close. He nudged the weapon out of the way with his shoulder and shoved the krogan as hard as he could.

The bullets in the alien's knees and the top-heavy distribution of the krogan's weight combined to bring the krogan down flat on his back. John lifted the Avenger and fired half of the clip into the krogan's face until orange blood covered the ground around them. Then he looked back up to see a doorway at the end of the hall, guarded by three vorcha, one of them with what looked like a flamethrower on his back.

John brought his weapon to bear on them as he moved for cover. He started firing, unconcerned whether or not the rounds struck their targets but more concerned with keeping them at bay. He moved behind a pillar as they advanced and pulled out a small fragmentation grenade. He twisted the top of the device and tossed it towards the vorcha. There was a small metallic clink as it hit the ground, followed by an explosion that staggered John.

He recovered and turned around the corner, Avenger up. All of the vorcha were still standing, but they all looked much worse for the wear. John brought down the two on the pyro's flanks with well-measured shots, before putting the last down with the rest of the clip.

John ejected the thermal clip and reloaded as he started towards the end of the hall. He opened the door to find a small control room, with three ventilation controls and what looked like some sort of slot built into them.

John pulled the canister out and inserted it into the slot before powering up the fans. He heard a suctioning sound and looked down to see the light blue liquid in the canister being sucked down into the machine.

"John here." John said into his headset. He hated using his first name, but it beat saying 'Staff Sergeant Shepard' in the middle of an intense firefight. "I've taken care of my end. Lawson?"

"We're starting the fans up now." she reported over his earpiece. "It looks like they're working."

"Good." John answered. "We'll regroup at the main controls and head back to the clinic."

John dropped the line and walked out of the small room, kicking a vorcha out of the way on the way by.

_**So I've decided to kind of go easy on the action scenes (I don't want to spend eight pages describing each and every firefight) but stick with some at the beginning and some at the end. To keep it from getting too repetitive and monotonous.  
**_

_**On another note, I appreciate all the comments. I think this is the only fic I've ever had where there are more comments than chapters. Either way, keep letting me know what you all think.**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Kasumi Goto - Citadel**_

Kasumi was well used to having to travel light and wait around, but she had assumed the Shepards would be picking her up soon. She supposed she had plenty of credits to spread on a hotel room, spa treatment and good food, but she didn't particularly like sitting around, especially given that her next mission would require her to do some killing.

Kasumi wasn't an assassin. She was the best thief in the galaxy. However, she'd been around weapons all her life, finding that she sometimes had to shoot someone to get the job done.

She had her own rule, though: Never shoot a man who's just doing his job.

She had little care about shooting down mercs or thugs. They were disgusting people that preyed on the weak. She would never shoot a cop, or a security guard. They were people making a living, doing what they had to do.

Plus, being a thief with morals in this galaxy wasn't hard. She couldn't swing a cat in the void of space with hitting at least some thug or slaver.

Kasumi scratched at her neck, the action softened by the fabric of her hood, as she walked through the deck of level 28. The sights here were as familiar as they were monotonous. She was in the slightest bit of a hurry, having heard that the Normandy was making an appearance from a source in docking authority.

She started to head down the stairs, when she heard something that stopped her.

"Please, miss, spare a credit?"

Kasumi stopped and looked around her feet to find herself staring down at a little girl with her hand out to the master thief. The girl was filthy, probably from crawling in and out of the ducts. She couldn't have been older than six. Kasumi had been under the impression that beggars on the Citadel were typically kept off the upper levels, but she still smiled down at the girl.

"Where are your parents?" Kasumi asked her.

"Gone on Eden Prime." The girl answered, her eyes briefly displaying a pain that Kasumi was sure she'd felt many times over when she had to tell the story. "Geth took them."

Kasumi felt sorry for the girl. It was a familiar pain, one she'd felt constantly in her teenage years. She bent down and rested her arms on her thighs as she looked at the girl.

"You want a few credits?" Kasumi asked, "I can do you better. Just wait right here."

Kasumi started back the way she came with a small smile on her lips. She already knew her destination and as soon as she hit deck 32, ten minutes later, she pulled into a small store that sold delicacies and Red Sand.

This shop, like an unfortunately high number on the Citadel, was a front for dealers. The original owners had been bought out of their own business and a new 'owner' had taken their place. The new owner still kept the shop up and running, but sold Red Sand through the back. Since the business had legitimately credit flow and had previously earned a good reputation, nobody knew any better.

Kasumi wasn't 'nobody', though. She'd become very familiar with the criminal underworld at the Citadel, since she was constantly there.

She moved through the store, noting that she was the only one in there as she spotted what she was looking for.

Ever since the population booms back on Earth, food had become processed and manufactured due to the difficult nature of feeding eleven billion on regular crops. As a result, fruits and vegetables were only ever found in high-end shops, this one being one of them.

Kasumi saw a small box with six apples in it. The apples were red and shiny, a color that was already making Kasumi's mouth water.

"Can I help you?" The 'owner' asked, approaching Kasumi with a friendly smile.

"I'm having a party." Kasumi lied immediately. "Humans. I think I'd like to bag up this whole box, if you don't mind."

"Of course." The asari woman answered with a smile, picking the box up and bringing it to the counter. She placed all of the apples in a small bag and that was when Kasumi struck.

"My guests also have a more...discerning taste." Kasumi said. "Something a little more...red."

The woman's mood immediately shifted from 'friendly' to 'business-like' in a split second. Her eyes narrowed at the Japanese woman.

"You C-Sec?" She asked.

"I'm a thief." She answered honestly, "My guests are going to be seeing some high-class stuff when they come over. They need some high class Sand to go with it."

"Package?"

"Bricks." Kasumi replied quickly. "Got five guests, so...two of 'em."

"I'll be right back." The woman replied, disappearing into a back room.

Kasumi waited for the door to close, then pulled up her omni-tool and connected it with the terminal on the desk. She started running a program that she rarely used. She didn't like to steal from stores because they were too easy, but sometimes she made side-trips like these.

The program automatically requested the funding information from the terminal. Within moments, Kasumi could see the profits this store was making, as well as unregistered deposits to a non-existing store account. A few thousand credits, not much for the thief, but...

_Can't steal money that doesn't exist._ Kasumi thought gleefully as she placed a withdrawal order in the system and transferred the money to her omni-tool, which was currently masquerading as the terminal itself.

_Too easy. _She thought as the credits were added to her omni-tool.

She picked up the bag and started to walk out.

"Hey!" She heard a yell behind her. She turned to see the asari come out of the back, a crimson brick in plastic wrap in each of her hands.

"Sorry, honey." Kasumi said, giving the woman a smile. "I'm taking these. I also helped myself to the...discretionary funds in your terminal. "

The woman stuttered, unable to come up with an answer. It was unprecedented to steal from the dealers on the station. They were a powerful group with connections everywhere, but they operated on secrecy. Which meant they could only come after her in private, not by using C-Sec. Especially given that the only evidence they had was video, which would show the asari coming out of the back with drugs in hand.

She laughed at the woman's expression as she completed her journey out of the shop. She stopped at level 29 and visited a banking terminal that transferred the three thousand credits from the omni-tool and dumped it into a credit chit. With that completed, Kasumi started back towards the hangar bay. Sure enough, she saw the girl waiting, her desperate eyes glancing around before spotting the woman.

Kasumi knelt down in front of the wide-eyed girl and looked around, finding the area more or less empty of people and cameras.

"I want you to picture your favorite four friends." Kasumi said, giving the girl a moment as she screwed her face up in concentration. "Got em? Now give them these and keep one for yourself."

She handed the girl the bag, pulling out one of the delicious fruits for herself in the process. She bit into it as the girl's eyes widened exponentially.

"F-fruit?"

"That's right." Kasumi answered, resisting her urge to moan at how delicious the apple was. "That's not all, either."

She pulled the credit chit out of her pocket and held it out. Her eyes wide, the girl grabbed it but Kasumi didn't let it go.

"Make sure you split this with your friends." She ordered, "Only spend this a little bit at a time and only on food, understand?"

"How..." She started, before looking at the number at the top of the chit. Her eyes were wide before, now they seemed to pop out of her head. Kasumi smiled to herself and ruffled the girl's hair as she stood to leave.

"Miss," The girl said, tugging on the thief's hand, "Thank you."

"Use it wisely." Kasumi started, catching something streaking past the window. It was a black and gold ship, incredibly sleek, with the word _Normandy _printed on the side.

_My new contract. _

"Good luck." Kasumi told the girl, before continuing her descent to the docking bay.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Tali'Zorah vas Neema - Citadel**_

Their talk with Aria had been...interesting. The woman had no leverage on the Commander and Jane had nothing she had needed from the crime lord. So the meeting had simply been a courtesy. The asari had tried to threaten the Commander by telling her not to screw with her, but Jane had simply laughed and reminded the woman who she was. After that, it'd been an uncomfortable but pleasant (by criminal standards) meeting to discuss a couple things, then they'd left.

There was little of the crew on the Citadel. Jane and John had wanted only Garrus and Tali to come along, since they were familiar faces to Councilor Anderson, who they'd soon be meeting (again). First, they had to make a pick up.

Tali trailed behind the group as they walked onto the loading bay, which was packed with members of all species going about their business. There were curious looks drawn towards the group, especially towards John. He paid them no mind.

Tali was still angry at the man for pointing out her failures in front of Operative Lawson. She was even angrier that he had been completely correct in his assessment.

_But he didn't have to say it like he did. _She thought to herself, _Or he could've said it in private, instead of the person on the ship I hate the most._

"I've got to pick a couple things up from the shops around here." Jane told the group suddenly, stopping them in the middle of the bay. "Garrus, you're with me."

"Yes, Commander." The turian replied, striding up next to Jane. Tali had noticed more than a few looks sent his way, as well, mostly at the missing chunk of his armor and face. She had to admit, she thought the scars added to his features, if anything, making the turian look a lot more grizzled that he'd looked before.

"John, Tali." Jane said, looking back at the two, "I need the two of you to keep an eye out for this Kasumi. Understood?"

"Yes." John answered, as stoic as ever.

Tali wished the man would loosen up.

"Alright," John replied as he turned back towards Tali, "So we're looking for a master thief on a station of millions. This should be simple."

Tali looked at him in surprise, the tone in his voice unusual.

"Keelah," She said, her voice dripping with amusement as an advertisement popped up behind the Staff Sergeant "Was that sarcasm I heard? We need to throw you a party, Staff Sergeant."

"I don't like to joke, Lieutenant." John told her. "I don't like to make serious situations seem light."

"Enter your password here for a fabulous prize package worth millions of credits!" The hooded figure on the advertisement behind him said.

"I know it doesn't seem like it, Lieutenant, but I do have some semblance of personality."

Tali was at a loss of what to say. He had rarely spoken more than a short sentence to her and now it was like a child who'd first leanred how to string together words.

_What brought this on?_

"Having problems with Collectors?" The advertisement behind him asked, "Try Goto's debt services."

_Goto. _Tali remembered, _That's-_

"I know we don't have the best working relationship, Lieutenant." John continued, not even bothering to heed the advertisement, "You like working with people who are friendly and outgoing. That's not me."

The worst part was that for all his flaws, some part of Tali was attracted to the man, for reasons she couldn't even begin to fathom. mIt was strange, but she was able to conceal it well. Besides, that Cerberus Operative probably didn't realize it, but Tali knew Miranda wanted John. From the looks of the incredibly beautiful woman, she'd get him, too.

Then again, it could be any of the women in the galaxy. Even as rough as John looked, he still struck a very powerful, awe-inspiring presence.

With her, it was purely physical. She certainly didn't care for the man, it was only that the physical attraction was there.

"Staff Sergeant," The advertisement said, "We've got a galaxy full of singles just waiting to meet you. Maybe something slim, petite and Japanese would be to your liking?"

"But that doesn't mean that-"

"Lovebirds." The advertisement finally cut in, distracting both of them from their conversation. The woman's voice was both annoyed and amused. "I'm trying to get you to come over here, if you haven't noticed."

John looked at her in surprise.

"Kasumi Goto?" He asked.

"Yes." The thief replied. Tali got a good look at her, now. The thief appeared to be even smaller than Tali was, clad in a skin-tight catsuit that was all black, save for a stretch of grey down the front. The thief's face was partially obscured by a hood, but Tali could make out a few details. Her face was, like the rest of her, petite. There was a thin stripe of makeup running from the tan woman's lower lip and her dark eyes shone in the light of the advertisement. "So much for the passwords and intrigue."

"I don't like to play games." John answered.

"So I see." The woman noted. "I've already got my things headed for the ship and I must say you will look good in a suit."

"A suit?" He asked, confused.. "Are we going somewhere?"

"I suppose that Cerberus didn't mention the side-mission as part of my payment?" John shook hsi head. "Ah well. It's a simple heist. If we're lucky, you won't even need to use your gun."

"If that's a condition for your services, we'll take care of it." John replied.

"We should probably wrap this up, then." Kasumi said, her face disappearing from the advertisement. Tali started to turn, when the quarian woman heard the thief's voice behind her. "You look pretty silly talking to an advertisement."

The two of them turned back and looked up to see the woman standing on a walkway up above the street level. She gave the pair a mischievous smile and Tali felt the slightest twinge of annoyance as she looked John up and down and gave the Alliance Marine a grin.

"See you on the ship, Shepard." She said, leaving the slightest lingering trail at the end of the words as she turned and walked away. Tali wasn't sure if she liked or disliked the woman.

"Jane." John reported, pressing in on his comms unit, "I found Kasumi Goto."

"How is she?" Jane asked.

"Strange." John answered. Tali could certainly agree with that. "I'm going to head up to Councilor Anderson's office right now. I'll see you up there."

"Affirmative." His sister answered.

Tali followed John to a terminal nearby. He called up a cab and they silently waited for it. Within moments, one arrived and they pushed into the tiny car.

Tali was having to make herself small to fit in next to John. The vehicle wasn't meant for people his size and his sheer bulk meant she was having to be pinned between him and the wall.

She tried not to notice how warm he felt next to her.

"Staff Sergeant." Tali started as the turian driving the cab took off towards the Presidium, "You're kind of-"

"Oh, sorry." He muttered distractedly, pushing himself to the side slightly to give her more room. Tali relaxed as they moved to the Presidium, where she could see the beautiful lakes and gardens that had so entranced her when they'd been at the Citadel two years ago.

She couldn't help but notice that nothing seemed to be broken or destroyed. Apparently, she wasn't the only one.

"We haven't been here in a couple years." John told the driver, "How did everything get fixed so quickly?"

"The Keepers." The cab driver answered.

Tali looked at John and received a worried glance in return. Worry was a strange emotion to see on John, but she'd seen it a couple times before. The Keepers were a mystery to them and the rest of the galaxy, but they knew that the Keepers seemed to be mindless servants of the Reapers.

Tali waited quietly as the cab pulled up on the embassy portion of the Presidium. As soon as she was out of the car, she stretched her legs out. She hated being cramped up like that. John, for his part, waited for her to finish, perhaps feeling slightly regretful that his size had made it so hard for her to fit into the back with him.

When she was done, she followed him up to the human Councilor's office. the office looked the same as it had before, though there were a few people working at the terminals in the Councilor's terminals in the room to the left.

Councilor David Anderson was dressed in fine blue and black robes, a type of clothing that seemed an ill fit for him. The man wasn't as big as John, but he could still cut an imposing figure. Dark skin melded perfectly with short-cut black hair that he was running his hand through in anxiety whilst staring at a console at his desk. Worried brown eyes met John's, then Tali's as they waked in. She saw those five-fingered hands twitch, but warmth flooded nto his eyes at the sight of John.

Tali had always liked Councilor Anderson. When she'd first met him, it had been in this very office. He'd been a Captain, then, forced to serve under a bosh'tet of a politician. Tali understood the feeling of humans well enough to know that their communities weren't their families, but rather their parents. She also knew that the Shepards had no parents, having lost them in their teenage years. It didn't take a genius to see that Captain Anderson had unintentionally filled the role of mentor and father figure to the two.

"John." Councilor Anderson greeted with a smile that was wider than any Tali had ever seen on the man. He held a hand out and John grabbed it, pulling the man in close. The two gave each other a couple slaps on the back before parting. Tali understood that it was a very familiar gesture between two human males, but idly wondered if it extended to females, too.

"Anderson." John answered back. Tali had noted before that Councilor Anderson was literally the only person of authority that he called exclusively by last name. She figured it was part of their rather close relationship.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Anderson replied, "The last two years have been...rough. Hearing that you and Jane are back up and running around made my year."

"There were...string attached." John replied uncomfortably.

"So I see." Councilor Anderson answered, looking the Alliance Marine up and down. "It looks like they gave you some sort of super-steroids."

"It's probably better you don't get the details of the operation." John muttered. "It wasn't pretty."

Councilor Anderson avoided the discussion by leaning to his side and locking eyes on Tali.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." He recited, "Correct?"

Tali was surprised the man remembered her. Even though she'd been crucial in the hunt for Saren, she figured herself too small a moment for him to remember when all was said and done.

"Close." Tali answered, smiling behind her mask. "It's 'Vas Neema', now. I finished my Pilgrimage."

"That's good to hear." He said. "Only other quarian I get any kind of contact with is Admiral Zuril and she's not very good about keeping in touch."

Tali didn't doubt it. The woman was notorious for being something of a loner on the Flotilla, a rare and strange quality in a quarian.

"So it's true, then?" Anderson asked, looking at John, "Cerberus?"

"An alliance I'd rather not be in, but we've been able to get a lot done under their resources." John answered immediately. "We know it's the Collectors snatching up these colonists with some sort of miniscule drones. We don't know why, or where they're taking them. We _are _coming up with a way to counter these drones."

"My God..." Anderson muttered. Tali saw him shift, slightly uneasy. "The Collectors. What could they want?"

"I don't know." John said, "But from what I've heard, they're use intermediaries and go-betweens for their more shadowy pickups around the galaxy. Abductions of this scale are completely unheard of."

"You think it's them?" Anderson asked quietly. There was the other reason Tali liked the man. He had viciously backed the Shepards at the end of the Battle of the Citadel when the Council tried to minimize them and their words about the Reapers. Councilor Anderson hadn't allowed it, backing the two up at every turn.

"I do." John replied. "Nothing else makes sense. How's it been here?"

"Honestly?" He asked, prompting a nod from John. Tali watched the man sigh as she leaned up against a desk. "It feels like I'm slamming my head into a wall most of the time. I think that might be a charitable way of expressing it. They don't believe a damn thing about the Reapers."

"I should-" John started, visibly angry, but Councilor Anderson held up a forestalling hand.

"However," Anderson said, "I've eased them towards the idea of your sister working with Cerberus, while you're officially listed as being on leave with the Alliance. Don't worry, the days will get lost in the system somewhere and you won't be charged for them. Lastly, your sister keeps her status as a Spectre."

"We should tell them to just-" John started, when Anderson interrupted him yet again. Tali counted this as the second time, which is once more than people usually got to interrupt him.

"No point in burning bridges or potentially useful assets." Anderson answered with a shrug. "We're going to need them, eventually."

They all turned at the sound of the door opening and Tali turned to see Jane and Garrus come in. She was surprised to see that Garrus looked a little angry, though nothing was said of it as he stood himself next to her and Jane walked up to greet Anderson.

There was another affectionate greeting between the two and Anderson gave her a look up and down.

"Looks like they didn't feed you the same thing they gave your brother." Anderson said with a smile.

"It looks like the job hasn't been treating you well." Jane observed, concern in her voice.

"It's been a long two years." Anderson agreed, nodding. His voice was quiet, almost introspective. "But the sight of you two back here is enough to make it all worth it."

He looked back and saw the turian standing at the door.

"Vakarian." He said with a nod, "Still upholding the law however you see fit?"

"More than you know, Councilor." Garrus answered.

There was a silence as Anderson clapped his hands together.

"But that's not why I called you here." Anderson told Jane. "I've got the Council in session, waiting on you."

"What do you want of me, Anderson?" She asked, cocking her head at the older man.

"You do what you feel you must." Anderson replied. "I'm not exactly too fond of the group, myself. I'll remind you, though, that they have the resources we need. Feel free to talk to them about the Collectors and your plans, but do _not _bring up the Reapers."

"So we're to keep silent on the biggest threat the galaxy knows?" John asked, arms crossed and an angry scowl on his face. "We need to be reminding them of it every second."

"Do you two think you're the only capable people in the galaxy?" Anderson asked the two of them, sounding amused. "I've got ideas on the Reaper front and a team in mind to get the ball rolling. I need you two to handle the Collectors, right now. So if you want to continue in your position as a Spectre, just don't bring the Reapers up."

"I don't like this." Jane stated flatly, gazing at the older man.

"Like I said, I've got a team in mind to open the Council's eyes." He said. He gave the woman a long look, before he said, "Trust me."

Jane gave him a singular nod and Anderson gave her another tired smile before turning to his terminal.

Holographically projected in the side of the room, the Council appeared. There was one turian Councilor, one asari Councilor and one salarian Councilor.

The first time she'd seen them, she'd been standing in the center of the Citadel Tower, presenting them evidence. As far as she knew, she was the first quarian to ever stand there. Now, she didn't feel intimidation when she saw them. She felt anger. Anger and frustration. She stuffed it deep down, reasoning that it wasn't her place to argue with the Council.

"Shepard." The asari Councilor, Tevos, stated. She seemed surprised. Tali noticed all three of the Councilors shooting anxious glances at John.

_That's right, bosh'tets. _She thought vindictively. _We're back and we're scarier, now._

"We've heard rumors of your resurrection." Councilor Valern, the salarian Councilor, said as he wrung his hands. "Unsettling rumors."

"Just what the hell are you doing with Cerberus, Commander?" The last Councilor, Sparatus, asked. Tali hated him more than the others. He was snide, cruel and far more dismissive than the others.

"Cerberus revived me, Councilors." Jane answered, putting her hands behind her back and standing at parade rest.

_No, sister. _Tali bemoaned, _They don't deserve that respect. Don't give it to them._

She looked at Garrus to find the man clenching and unclenching his claws, anger evident on his face.

"They also found out what's happening with the colonists."

"We found out that it was batarian slavers." Tevos answered dismissively.

"_Actually_," Jane said, her voice a little more forceful. Tali privately cheered her on, knowing that Jane was getting a little angry, "It's the Collectors. We picked up a quarian and more importantly, his omni-tool data, when we visited Freedom's Progress. Lieutenant Tali'Zorah vas Neema, who you may notice behind me, sent him back home."

Tali noticed a quick glance from Sparatus, but held her ground confidently. She wasn't intimidated by them, anymore. Not after she'd seen their true faces.

"We can't-" Councilor Tevos started, but Jane held up her hand, causing the woman to fall silent.

"Look." Jane told the Councilor, her voice raised just slightly, "I know you don't want to have to deal with this. After the...geth attack on the Citadel, your fleets are stretched thin and you don't want to have to deal with problems in the Terminus Systems because you don't want the batarians crying foul."

There was a silence, then Sparatus answered.

"What do you propose?"

_Got them right where you want them, Jane. _Tali quietly cheered.

"Cerberus has the resources and I have the intel." She answered. "I'll figure out a way to get us out there and hit the Collectors where they live."

The Councilors looked at each other and Sparatus nodded.

"Commander." He said, "I know that neither of us really care for the other, but you've been a capable ally and we owe you our lives. We haven't forgotten that. Shepard, if you restrict your operations to the Terminus systems and don't cause too much trouble, we'll uphold your Spectre status."

"I need to file reports?" Jane asked, confused.

"That won't be necessary." Councilor Valern assured her. "This is a good show of faith on our parts."

"Then I'd be honored to retain my position." Jane acknowledged without pause. "Thank you, Councilors."

"We hope for a quick resolution to the Collectors in the Terminus Systems." Councilour Tevos said, "And a quick resolution to your partnership with Cerberus."

The Councilors disappeared and Anderson looked at Jane.

"Well, that went a lot better than-"

Another figure strode into the room and Tali was thankful her mask had olfactory filters as Udina strode in. She hated the man. He was an ardent politician and though he was useful, he was so slimy that Tali felt the urge to initiate her suit's self-cleaning subsystems after speaking to him,

"Councilor." He started, looking resolute. "We need to talk ab-"

He noticed the crowd and looked around in surprise. Then he seemed to laser in on Jane.

"Shepard." He muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"Just catching up with Anderson." Jane lied. Tali noticed that she seemed highly uncomfortable.

"You don't have to cover for me." Anderson told Jane. He looked at Udina and continued. "I invited her and John here to speak to the Council."

"You did what?!" Udina seemed to thunder, his clever brown eyes narrowing, "Councilor, do the wor-"

"The Council upheld her status." Councilor Anderson told the politician in the white robes. "Long as she keeps to the Terminus systems, everything's fine and she solves our colony disappearances."

Yes." Udina muttered, scratching at his chin. "I can see how that works out best for everyone. Still, you really shouldn't have made a move like this without consulting me."

"I don't answer to you anymore, Udina." Anderson answered, the hard tone in his voice unfamiliar to Tali, "Why don't you go to your office and think about that?"

"Of course, Councilor." Udina answered coldly, turning on his heel and walking right back out.

"Scratch one." Garrus muttered, making Tali laugh.

Tali was glad Garrus had survived his ordeal on Omega. He was like a brother to her and they both knew it. She would've missed him.

As soon as Udina left, Anderson turned back to the Shepards.

"I've got a lot to do." He said. "Keep me updated, will you?"

"Can do." Jane replied, starting to walk out before Anderson called her back. Tali turned around with the rest of the group.

"Jane." He said, his voice quiet and serious, "Do what you have to do. Just...do me a favor. Don't trust Cerberus. They're dangerous."

"Who says I trust them?" Jane asked, right as she walked out with Tali close on her heels.

_**For those who missed it (or maybe I didn't mention it, I don't know), this isn't my only ME fic. As a result, this one will follow the storyline outlined in the other (which isn't TOO far off the regular plot). I decided to do it that way, because...well...I love the characters I created in the other story. Don't worry, though. This is about the Shepards.**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Jack - Purgatory Prison Ship**_

Jack felt the guards behind her, even if she couldn't see them. There were at least three of them, all dedicated to guarding the 'most deranged criminal in the galaxy'.

Truth be told, Jack didn't particularly cared what people called her. She didn't feel any particular way about killing, only knowing that it was a very easy way of getting things done. She didn't use it to feel power or to express her anger. Only on a very rare occasion did she kill simply because she wanted to.

The tattoos that covered her from head to toe were a testament of her time out in the galaxy. Some tattoos told a story, some were for the more important people she'd killed and some were because-hey-why the fuck not?

The criminal had been good for the last two weeks. She hadn't attempted to break out and hadn't attempted to kill anyone. That good behavior had earned her a walk out on the prison block to stretch her legs.

She figured that Warden Kuril was nowhere near as smart as she'd originally pegged him. The turian had been all fire and brimstone when she'd met him, but after six attempted murders, she figured the old Blue Sun mercenary would actually _do _something about her. He was still keeping her in general population, though. It was strange.

There was another prisoner striding in the opposite direction, flanked by a pair of guards. Jack had always seen the man as a handsome sort, confident in attitude and build. That hadn't stopped him from sexually assaulting young girls all across the galaxy and stabbing them to death when he was finished with them.

From what Jack had heard, the Warden was collecting quite the nice sum on the man's head. Nothing compared to what Jack had. Entire species were paying to keep her locked up, but she'd heard rumors that someone had bought her. For what purpose, she didn't know, but she intended to kill the fools as soon as she got far enough away from the prison. Then she'd be able to fly wherever she wanted and lay low for a while.

As they neared, Jack gave the man a small smile and nod of the head as she reached up and scratched at the leather straps she called her 'top'. The man gave her a leering grin, knowing what she was suggesting with the miniscule signal. Sex was hard to come by in the prison, but they all knew Jack was up for it whenever she got the chance.

_This man raped and killed seventy-two girls. _She remembered. _All species, all under the age of twelve. Amazing that he's considered a small fry, in here._

She brought her hand down, a small object clutched in it. Two weeks ago, one of the guards had dropped a credit chit in his drunken stupor. Jack had managed to seize it and hide it in her pants before anyone had noticed. Since then, she'd spent her alone time slowly whittling it down until it was small and rough enough for use. She'd loosely stored it directly in one of the straps for easy access.

The man was disarmed by her gesture, thinking she found herself attracted to him. He wasn't paying attention and wasn't watching her hands.

She swung towards the man's gut, tapping into her impossibly strong biotics to give extra force to the rough object. There was a moment of resistance, then she was through the skin and clothes, cutting into the soft belly of the man. He cried out as blood sprayed across the floor, a wide gash in his stomach.

When Jack killed, she typically did it for the sake of freedom or survival. Even with everything she'd killed, she didn't take lives without some sort of reason, no matter how tenuous. It was very rare that she felt any pleasure from her killings.

This was one of those rare moments.

With an animal snarl, she swung the knife with the assist of her biotics, tearing the shiv out of the man's side. He collapsed to the floor before any of the guards could even react. Jack knew she had sliced through several internal organs, enough to ensure he'd bleed out even with the advanced medical technology available to the prison.

"How's it feel, bitch!?" She screamed at the man, throwing the shiv to the ground. The guards descended on her, wrestling her to the ground. She didn't care. She kept her eyes on the man's terrified blue eyes. "Don't like it much, do you!?"

She watched with vicious satisfaction as the man looked down at his guts and started screaming, the sound a gurgle with all the blood in his mouth.

That was when the first kick landed in her back. Jack was well used to beatings, having endured them as a child and further on through life. This prison wasn't one of the luxury resorts on Earth, this one was run by mercenaries and governed with very little oversight. The only rule was: don't kill the prisoners. The prisoners were the money-makers.

Jack curled into a ball instinctively, to keep the blows from landing anywhere critical. An armored foot landed in her kidneys and she involuntarily straightened as the next boot landed directly in her nose. She heard crunching as the blow broke her nose and she was kicked over. She tried to rise to her feet, until a fist caught her in the stomach.

She coughed on reflex, dropping back down to hands and knees. A pair of strong, armored hands gripped Jack up under her leather straps and hoisted her up before slamming her into the wall bodily. Her guard, a grizzled human, grabbed her by the wrists and used a biotic dampening device to secure her wrists and biotics.

"Get medical here quick!" Someone yelled.

That was when her guard, the turian, shoved him out of the way. He held her up on the wall by her throat and swung his fist up into her stomach. Jack let out a strangled cry of rage as she felt her mouth fill up with blood.

"That's enough!" An authoritative voice yelled. It was a voice she knew all too well. Warden Kuril. She looked over to see the older turian striding up to the group, clad in his usual blue armor. "Let her down."

Jack's guard dropped her on her ass, the landing jolting her tailbone. She grit her teeth against the landing and all the sore points in her body as the Warden looked down at the prisoner, who had stopped screaming and was weakly reaching for Warden Kuril as more of his blood spilled on the floor. Jack gave him thirty more seconds before the man died.

Apparently, the Warden gave him the same time-frame.

"Don't bother with the medical team." The Warden told his men, looking down at the bleeding rapist with little sympathy. He turned to Jack. "So here we are."

She didn't answer the older turian, merely gazing dispassionately at the man. She wasn't afraid of him or anybody in the prison, for that matter. He must've not been too pleased with her lack of reaction as a guard picked her off the floor and held her from behind by her wrists. His face seemed to grow tighter as he grew angrier.

"You killed him for his crimes," He started, "didn't you?"

That was a question Jack was willing to answer. She gave him a singular nod as the man she'd stabbed finally went still. A bloody smile formed on the convict's face.

"You've killed-no-murdered over a hundred in your lifetime." Wardne Kuril snarled, his light eyes boring into her deep brown gaze. "You've caused over a billion credits in damages and earned the rage of entire species. Who the hell are you to judge another for his crimes?!"

Jack gave her final answer. She brought all the blood that had been gathering in her mouth to the front, before spitting the whole bloody mess into the Warden's face. Jack laughed at the disgusted look the action produced, until an armored fist collided with the side of her face. She felt the snap of a cheekbone as the Warden backed up and looked at her guard.

"I've had enough of her shit." The Warden said, trying to wipe his face off, "Get her to cryo."

Cryo was the worst area of the ship. It was where the most unstable and incurable psychopaths were kept. Jack would be fed through tubes and only let out once a month under complete control and heavy supervision. Jack had spent her last year trying to figure a way out of Purgatory, but with someone coming to buy her, she wouldn't have to.

So she let the guards drag her to the facility, a walk that took about ten minutes. They were careful, so careful that Jack wasn't even able to identify an opportunity to overpower one of them. They finally brought her to a cryo room. There was a singular table in the middle of the room, at the top of some small circular platform.

The guards shoved her against the platform roughly, before putting the clamps over her wrists and neck. She felt like a caged animal, but she had no way out as they stepped away and a guard activated a control near the pedestal.

With a whirring of mechanics, the podium started to descend and the air got noticeably chillier as she went down. She started to shiver and felt a moment of irrational panic as a needle stabbed her arm. She forced herself to calm down as the liquid started to work its magic, putting her into a state not unlike hibernation.

"Heh." She mumbled as her eyes closed. "Got the fucker good."


	18. Chapter 18

_**Commander Jane Shepard - Purgatory Prison Ship**_

Jane stared the two turians in the eyes. She'd recently come from Omega, mere days from blowing away most of the Blue Suns on that station. Now she was running into them again. The silence between them was nearly laden with quiet threats.

Of course, the guns pointed every which way were threats that weren't quiet or invisible.

Jane had come with her whole crew, not totally on board with the idea of stepping onto a merc ship without full backup. Their first mistake had been demanding that everyone turn over their weapons.

Not too much to her surprise, Garrus had been the first one to pull up his pistol. John had been right behind him. Then all the weapons began to come up. Now, they were in the middle of a standoff.

_Thanks to Garrus. _Jane growled to herself.

She and the turian had quite the conversation on the Citadel, when she'd been shopping for provisions and mods. He'd told her everything about Omega. He'd told her about his team, the countless people they killed and their eventual betrayal. When he'd brought up Sidonis, though...

Jane had never seen anger on the level he'd displayed. She felt that she should try to stop what Garrus was about to become, but had nothing left to say to the vengeance-obssessed turian. Especially after he'd pointed out that her brother was no different and she never had a word to say to the man.

Jane tore her attention away and to the matters at hand. Namely, that she had a couple of armed mercs tell her entire team to give up their weapons and they had a singular policy concerning the relinquishment of weapons: Don't.

Jane's finger was on the trigger of the Vindicator assault rifle in her hands. She wasn't squeezing on the trigger just yet, but she was prepared to if either of the guards so much as gave her a wrong look. Then they'd just bust Jack out of prison, Warden be damned.

She'd done her reading on Jack after the dossier. The criminal had a history that she'd been disbelieving of during her entire reading. She'd killed entire merc groups, stolen an Alliance cruiser and even crashed a space station into a moon. Shepard had no idea if they were all made up charges, but she did know that when she found Jack, he'd be a handful. She wasn't quite sure she was worth it, but she intended to find out.

After, of course, she dealt with security.

"Can disable them with omni-tool, Commander." Mordin assured her from her left, the salarian holding his SMG trained on the guard on the left.

"Everybody stand down!" An authoritative turian belted out. The guards lowered their weapons and Jane nearly let out a thankful sigh as she lowered her own weapon. The rest of the team put their weapons down, as well.

Warden Kuril, she presumed, stood behind his guards, the older turian dressed in the same blue armor as the mercs holding guns on the group. He looked at Jane, then at her brother, undoubtedly weighing his options.

"Commander." He said, "I'm afraid our policy is that we don't allow weapons aboard this ship."

"My policy is to keep my weapons." Jane answered immediately. "I'm sure there are literally no prisoners aboard this ship that can overpower any of us."

The Warden's eyes narrowed, then John decided to add onto that.

"Also." John replied, "We're leaving here with Jack, one way or another. You've got your money, so we're obviously not attempting a jailbreak here. Let's not make this an issue."

There was another long silence, then the Warden finally sighed in resignation.

"Fine." He answered, his voice sounding slightly bitter, "We can handle a squad of armed soldiers."

_Not this one. _Jane thought to herself. As he started forward, Jane gave her brother a significant look. He nodded and followed the Warden, the rest of the group on his tail. Jane slowed her walk, letting everyone pass her.

At least, until she was side by side with Garrus.

"Garrus." She started, drawing the vigilante's attention, "If you ever pull your gun before I give the order or do it myself, you _will _find yourself off the ship."

"Sorry." He muttered, looking startled that she'd even brought it up. "I figured that's where the conversation was headed."

She glanced ahead to John, who was keeping the Warden busy.

"Look." Garrus said, "Let's not resort to threats-"

"Kicking you off of the most dangerous mission in the galaxy is a threat, to you?" Jane asked, honestly confused as they waked into another chamber meant for processing.

"Yes." Garrus answered, the gruff turian giving Jane an even look. "There's nowhere I'd rather be. John, Tali and-I hope-you are the only friends I have left in this screwed up galaxy."

"Stop being melodramatic." Jane answered with a chuckle, not sensing the turian's honesty or the sudden shift in his mood. "I'm sure you have friends out there."

"I did." He agreed quietly. "On Omega."

Jane fell silent, not knowing how to answer that. She decided that she better catch up to the front and see what the Warden was saying. She left the sullen turian behind and headed for the front of the group.

"-if worlds or governments aren't willing to pay," The Warden was explaining, gesturing with his hands as he talked and led them into an area with windows that looked down into the common areas, "We explain to them that the upkeep up prisoners costs money and if they don't pay, we'll be forced to let the prisoner go. At an unspecified time and location."

"So it's an extortion racket." Zaeed pointed out. Jane noticed that he looked a little more tense than usual, clearly uncomfortable about something.

"You don't have to like my methods-"

"I don't." Tali interrupted with a shrug.

"But we're doing the galaxy a favor." The Warden continued, narrowing his eyes at the quarian. "Entire governments afraid to punish their criminals, loopholes in the systems...we do what others are unwilling or incapable of doing to keep the galaxy safe. So if we have to threaten a few governments to keep everything that order, we will."

"So what can you tell me about Jack?" Jane asked, catching up with the Warden as they continued past a few cells.

"They didn't tell you?" The Warden asked. Jane couldn't help but notice the worried and disturbed look on his face. "Jack is the meanest ball of violence and hate I've ever encountered. The convict gutted a serial rapist just a week ago. Which is why Jack's in cryo right now. I don't know what you need that...scum...for, but you better be damn careful."

They emerged into a large room, which would've been completely unremarkable, save for the ten men ahead of them with guns trained on the crew. Hands went to weapons, until there were the sound of feet behind them and they found themselves completely surrounded as five more men came in from the rear.

Jane took her hand off her weapon, though not willing to go as far as to put her hands up in the air. To her surprise, the rest of the team was in a similar state. She looked to the Warden, feeling no small amount of anger starting to rise within her.

"I'm sorry, Commander." Warden Kuril said,backing up until he was behind his men. "You're of far more value as a prisoner than a customer."

"You've just made the biggest mistake you'll ever make." John growled.

"Hardly." Warden Kuril answered, his eyes narrowing at the Marine. "Take them."

Two troopers approached her. One of them was grabbing at some restraints at his belt while the other was keeping his gun leveled on her.

Jane moved, quickly, hearing the sounds of hand-to-hand combat behind her as she moved on the man with the assault rifle and twisted the gun in his hands, the awkward distribution of force forcing the gun out of his hands. Jane didn't bother with the gun, letting it drop as she kicked directly at the groin of the unarmored man who'd tried to cuff her.

She made contact and the man dropped, holding himself and yelling in agony. Jane spun back to the second merc to find him bringing up his pistol. She grabbed the pistol and forced it down with one hand while delivering a cross to his throat. She felt a soft crunch under her balled-up fist as his larynx collapsed under the blow. The man fell to his knees, hands going to his throat as he tried to breathe.

She pulled her pistol and put a round in both of them. Satisfied that she'd neutralized the two, she turned to her team. Everyone, even Tali and Kasumi, had successfully subdued or killed their attackers. John was literally holding an asari woman limply by the neck, her legs and feet dragging the floor as he held her down by his side. He dropped the woman and looked around, eyes narrowing.

"Where the hell is the Warden?" He wondered.

Jane looked around and found herself unable to spot him, as well. In all of the confusion, he must've slipped away.

"John." She started, catching her brother's attention, "You take most of the crew back to the ship and be prepared to hold it. I'll take Miranda and Garrus."

"You've got it." He answered with a nod. He pulled everyone back through the hallway we'd come through and Jane looked at the two she'd specifically picked out.

"Let's go." Jane ordered.

They wound their way around a corner and stacked up outside a door. Jane gave Garrus a nod and he swept around the corner and through the door. Jane felt a pang of concern when she heard a pistol fire, but the gunfire was followed by the rattle of an assault rifle. She looked in to find Garrus scratching at a new scuff on his armor, before looking back at her.

"We're clear, Shepard." He told her.

There was a dead technician before him that Jane nudged out of the way with a foot as she looked into the room below. There was some sort of platform in the center of the room and Jane looked over at Miranda for confirmation.

"Yeah." Miranda said, giving the woman a nod, "It's a cryo cell."

"Those are usually reserved for the absolute worst of prisoners." Garrus elaborated. "No feasible way out of them. Whoever this Jack is, he must be one sick son of a bitch."

"Be ready." Jane said, feeling conflicted about what she was about to do. On one hand, it was very important that she managed to get to Jack. On the other, the release was linked to every cell on the block and there was no time to break the control down further than that. "This unlocks every cell on the floor."

"Most of the prisoners deserve death, besides." Garrus observed. Jane shot him an angry look and the turian shrugged.

She pressed the button and stepped to the window, flanked by Miranda and Garrus. A circular piece in the floor lifted, along with a table. Strapped to that table was the strangest woman Jane had ever seen.

She was of average height and a slim build and positively _covered _in tattoos. There was barely an inch of anything below her neck that wasn't tattoos. Her clothing was strange, as well. It was simply some leather straps that stretched across her front, barely covering the nipples of her breasts. She was bald, with some sort of black rectangular tattoo stretching across the back and sides of her head. On her ear was some sort of amp and Jane could see that the woman's upper body and head were covered in scars that appeared surgical.

"That's Jack?" Garrus asked, sounding surprised.

The woman's eyes suddenly popped open and Jane saw three heavy mechs lumber into view. Jack's dark brown gaze landed on the mechs and Jane watched the woman snarl as she tore away the restrains on her wrists, then popped open the collar on her neck. She yelled and charged the three mechs, her fist a fiery blue glow. There was an explosion beneath them, much to Jane's surprised, shortly followed by another.

"Holy shit." Jane muttered.

"Did she just punch a heavy mech to death?" Garrus wondered.

"She'll certainly be useful." Miranda hedged. Jane heard a begrudging tone in the Cerberus Operative's voice.

"We need to get to her." Jane said, starting through a door to the left. Thy dashed down the stairs and emerged into the cryo chamber. Three heavy mechs were lying on the ground, circuitry sparking and smoking. A hole had been ripped into the wall across from them.

"This is...impossible." Garrus muttered.

The next fifteen minutes was spent following the woman's path of destruction. Everywhere they went, as guards and prisoners clashed, they noticed holes ripped in the walls, parts of the ship torn completely to shreds and even an engine that had been pulled through the bulkhead, at one point. Jane was unable to believe the sheer destruction the woman had single-handedly caused.

They made their way through the mess slowly, with Jane noticing how gleeful Garrus seemed to be between shooting mercs and prisoners. Jane didn't make a note of it, seeing as he was making himself more than useful. The guards had mostly shotguns and pistols, making Garrus' long range shooting and Miranda's biotics perfect against the guards and prisoners.

Then they emerged into a large area of the ship that seemed to be for prisoner control. As soon as they came in, Jane noticed that the area was completely devoid of people, save for dead bodies covering the floor. There were also three shield generators dotting the room, making it perfect for-

"Get down!" Jane yelled. She dove behind cover as a shot rang out and looked back to see Miranda behind a barrier and Garrus standing behind a thick column.

"I could've sold you and lived like a king, Shepard!" Warden Kuril's voice yelled out. Jane peeked over cover to see the turian waving around a sniper rifle in the opposite corner of them, with one hand on a cuffed Jack. The woman was struggling against the Warden, but he seemed to have negated her biotic abilities. "But you're too much damn trouble! At least I've still got Jack."

"Let her go, Kuril!" Jane demanded, "You know we need her!"

"The fuck do you need me f-" Jack started, until the Warden lashed out at her. Jack ducked the backhand and sprung away, heading for another door. Kuril raised his weapon to fire at her and wound her, but Jane and her team came up and opened fire, pinnign the Warden down. Blue Suns started to flodo into the room as the shield generators activated and kept him under a nigh-impenetrable shield. Jane got back down.

"She's coming your way, John!" Jane yelled to her brother over comms.

"I don't know what she looks like." John answered, not even stumbling over the idea that their mass murdering psychopath was a woman.

"You'll know her when you see her." Jane explained, "She has a lot of tattoos."

"There are women everywhere running around with tattoos." John pointed out, "How are we going to spot-oh...yeah, that's gotta be her...hey team, we've got a psychopath who literally just tore this ship apart headed our way. Taylor, you and I will keep her down with biotics. Zaeed, you keep her under your gun. Kasumi, Tali, be prepared to block any tech she throws our way, if she does."

Satisfied that it'd be dealt with, Jane turned back to the Warden.

"Garrus, Miranda!" She yelled. The two looked at her as she tossed a grenade over her cover to the shield generator in front of her. It exploded, dropping its power to the shield. "You take one side, I'll take the other. Primary targets are the shield generators."

They nodded and started up the path to the right, which was thicker with the mercs. The only advantage Jane had was that there was no opportunity for her to be flanked, with the room split into two tiers like it was. She pushed forward under fire and got down under a barrier. She noted two Blue Suns and a LOKI mech between her and the generator. The Blue Suns were behind cover and the mech was advancing on her, firing its SMG.

She pulled another grenade and lofted it over cover. This one was concussive, meant for little more than disabling targets. Shepard was using it for a different purpose, though. As she raised up, her Avenger in hand, the two mercs scattered from their cover. Jane had gotten lucky, catching the mech on a reload and leaving her with room to fire. She opened fire on the back of the first merc, putting him down without difficulty.

The second merc started to draw on her, but Jane was much faster. She put two rounds through his head and moved on to the mech immediately, not wanting to give the robot time to reload. She emptied the rest of the clip into the mech and moved past it as it fell. She pressed herself up against a bloodied crate and reloaded, before spinning and finding herself close enough to the shield generator that she was able to put a string of rounds into it and disable it.

She glanced across the room to find Garrus and Miranda working through their targets. Due to the unique structure of the room, it gave Jane an opportunity to flank the mercs. Jane started firing in from their right sides. She caught one merc with a rocket launcher in the shoulder, knocking him down and allowing her to finish him with another pair of shots. The sudden flanking caused one merc to stand in surprise, allowing him to be cut down by merciless fire from Garrus and Miranda. there was an explosion on their end and the last shield generator went down, leaving Warden Kuril by himself. He was on a third tier that was unreachable to Jane.

She needed another option.

"Garrus," She asked in her comms, "You got a shot?"

There was a moment of silence, then:

"If you can get him up and shooting at you..."

"Well, that shouldn't be a problem."

Jane swung out from behind cover and started firing at the Warden, standing out in the open. It was a rookie move, something that few survived. Though she wasn't too keen on his morals and rationale, she trusted in Garrus' aim and skill. She cursed loudly and started to reload. The Warden, undoubtedly praising his luck, stood and aimed down his assault rifle at her.

There was a crack that sounded out between the sounds of Miranda's Tempest. Warden Kuril's head suddenly snapped to the side and he toppled, falling off of the third tier to their floor.

Mopping up the rest of the Blue Suns was easy. Jane worked her way from behind them, with Miranda and Garrus either keeping them pinned or blowing anyone stupid enough to move from cover to find better positioning.

When they were finished, they all looked through the door Jack had run through.

"Figure it's about time we introduce ourselves?" Garrus asked.

Jane activated the door and it slid open to reveal a very long hallway, at the end of which was the docking bay. There were a few dead BLue Suns strewn around the area, but Jane could see the rest of the team at the end. Jack was standing there, completely forzen, but Jane could see her brother talking to the woman. He looked up as she walked into the hallway. As she approached, he made a gesture to Jacob and the two of them dropped the stasis hold they had on Jack.

The woman moved to try to run back the way she came, but found Jane and her team there, weapons up. She started towards the other door, only to find Zaeed and Tali waiting, both with their guns up.

"I'm not letting Cerberus take me." Jack said, her voice rough and tense, "You all better just fucking kill me."

"What's your beef with Cerberus?" Jacob asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the woman.

"Besides the fact they made me what I am?!" She yelled, prompting John to go for his pistol. Jane had finally arrived, settling in next to her brother as Miranda and Garrus stayed behind the convict.

"Seems like it wasn't a bad thing." Miranda answered with a shrug. "With the surgical enhancements and biotic enh-"

"I was a child." Jack hissed, her eyes narrowing at the woman with the Cerberus logo brazenly printed on her chest, "I was locked in a room and fought other children to the death. I suppose it wasn't a bad thing, bitch?!"

"I...didn't know." Miranda admitted quietly.

"Look, Jack." Jane started, trying to pull the conversation back to business so they could board the Normandy quickly. She could feel the ship shudder and groan with each explosion. She figured they had ten minutes, at most, before the ship was completely destroyed. "I'm Commander Shepard, Spectre an-"

"Yeah, every human knows who you are." Jack snapped.

"And I'm investigating mass abductions of colonists out in the Terminus Systems." Jane finished. "The Collectors are behind them and we plan to move through the Omega Four Relay and kick them in the balls, as soon as we figure out how to do it. In order to do that, I need the best. You're...certainly not lacking in the kind of power we need."

"Maybe I should just take the ship from you." Jack answered with a grin.

Jane wasn't impressed by the threat. Neither, apparently, was John.

"Better have tried." John informed the mass murderer dismissively. "Now, we're willing to give you what you want to get you on board, but if you don't want to deal, we'll fly off."

Jack leered at the big man, but his expression didn't budge an inch, Jane was pleased to see. Seeing that it wasn't going to help her, Jack let down the attempt. She seemed to think for a moment, before looking back up at Jane.

"Cerberus has files on me." She answered, "I want them. You do that for me and I join you all on your little suicide mission."

"You'll get them." Jane promised. "Now, we should probably go. This ship isn't going to be safe for much longer."

"You better be straight up with me."

"Jack." Garrus told the woman as the group started towards the airlock. The convict looked up at the turian, visibly intrigued by his facial scarring, "Jane is many things, but she's never gone back on a deal."

"Fuck happened to your face?" She demanded to know as the first group stepped into the airlock. Jane could hear the two behind her and felt awkward that they had just had a conversation about her right within her hearing range.

"I was killing dozens of mercs and people like you." Jane heard Garrus reply from behind her.

"With the team?"

"Alone." He answered.

There was a silence that Jane would count as 'impressed'. She looked back to see Jack staring up at the turian, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. She smirked as she looked back to the opening airlock. She decided to throw her two cents in.

"Welcome to the team."


	19. Chapter 19

_**Zaeed Massani - Normandy SR-2 **_

Their next stop was a world by the name of Korlus to pick up some mad scientist krogan named Okeer. It was a six hour flight time between the missions and Massani intended to be ready. So he checked over his weapons, ensuring that they were clean and nothing was loose before deciding to take a walk.

It wasn't that he didn't like his room. When he'd entered, that peppy redheaded girl had been more than willing to give him a tour of the ship and show him which areas he could bunk in. He'd decided on the garbage compactor room, across from the cargo hold. It ws small, out of the way and only had one way in or out. Perfect for someone like him.

Zaeed's long years of mercenary work had been a constant source of stress release for him, but he was starting to get weary of it. It wasn't the age, it was simply the life. He was tired of constantly checking over his shoulder to make sure nobody was coming to get him. He was sick of looking up at the door every few minutes to ensure somebody wasn't standing there.

Most of all, he was tired of the killing.

While he had no compunctions with it and knew full well that it was what he was good at, he was growing tired of being known only for his ability to take a life. He had no other aspirations, but he wanted out of the life. The stipulations of the contract on this suicide mission would give him both the money and the closure he needed to move on with his life.

Of course, if what the Shepards were saying was true, it seemed that Zaeed was going to be at work for a little bit longer. There was a war coming and he had the kind of skills that could turn entire battles. He knew he'd be unable to stay away from the war and would appreciate the chance to put his skills to use in a good way, for once.

Not that he'd tell anybody, but that was part of the reason Zaeed had accepted the suicide mission. He'd spent decades chasing down gamblers and overthrowing small governments just to give both to people so dirty he wanted to wash his hands after meeting them. Now, he just wanted to go out with a bang. He saw the suicide mission as his opportunity to do that.

He appreciated not being in charge, as well. He was comfortable with being in command, but didn't relish it. Given that his superiors gave good orders, he was just as happy being the underling.

But he was still undecided on the Shepards.

He liked the brother. The brother was a no-nonsense Marine, the type of which he'd met several times during his long years. The guy would get a mission done exactly as he wanted, regardless of who he had to hurt or trample over to get it done. He had a bit of a stick up his ass, but Zaeed usually had no problem with the overly-professional types.

His sister was another story. Jane had the tendency to show a little too much restraint, sometimes. Zaeed had concerns that the woman wouldn't be able to pull through in a difficult situation that required a little more...discretion. Still, she was certainly a lot more skilled than pretty much any man or woman he'd ever met.

The two Cerberus operatives, in his opinion, needed to screw and get it over with already. There was so much sexual tension between the two that he could put rounds down on it. Jacob was a good man and Miranda was a cold-hearted bitch. Both of them, he could deal with.

Kasumi was a good girl, from what he could see. She had that Robin Hood complex that he'd seen in a few thieves, but unlike them she actually had the skill to make something of that complex. He could tell she was hung up on something, though he had no idea what she expected to do about it. He doubted it was any of his business, though, so he simply ignored the rather obvious emotional attachment she held to her former partner.

Jack was a psychopath, plain and simple. Zaeed watched himself around the woman because while he was capable of overpowering her, he'd have no chance if she took him unawares. Psychotics weren't a new trick, for him, but he didn't particularly enjoy working with them. Still, as aggressive and psychotic as the girl was, she seemed to at least have some sense and logic about her.

Next were the aliens. He had to admit that he was very impressed with Vakarian. The turian had held out against three major mercenary organizations on his own. Even Zaeed would've had an incredibly hard time pulling off that sort of defense. He also noticed the turian was hell-bent on revenge, which was certainly something Zaeed could sympathize with,

Tali'Zorah was a simple woman, which was something Zaeed could appreciate. She seemed to be the closest thing the team had to a civilian, other than Jack. Still, Zaeed would be damned if she wasn't skilled with that shotgun and omni-tool. Her drone had been one hell of a help when they'd been defending the ship on Purgatory.

He wasn't too keen on the doctor. He respected that the salarian was a master in his field and that he certainly had the combat skills to hold his own in their situations. What didn't sit well with the old mercenary was exactly how easily the salarian rationalized his work on the Genophage. Zaeed killed a lot of people (usually bad) and slept easy at night. That, however, was a far cry from slowly killing millions of an entire species.

All in all, not the easiest group he'd ever worked with. On the other hand, it wasn't the most difficult group he'd ever worked with, either.

Zaeed shook himself out as he walked out, feeling a little sore from the Purgatory mission. It'd been a little more eventful than he'd expected. He knew he'd never taught the Blue Suns to screw over their contracts like that.

He wandered up from the Engineering Level and found himself on the Crew Deck. He looked around, not sure where to go next, until he found himself staring at the Med-Bay. He figured that, since he'd probably be getting a bullet taken out at one point or another during the mission, he might as well introduce himself to the doctor.

He strode into the doctor's office and was surprised to find her looking over medical records. The older woman looked up at him, green eyes questioning his presence.

"You the doc?" Zaeed asked, striding forward and leaning up against a table. The doctor must've noticed his rather standoffish attitude, because she crossed her arms and leaned back, looking faintly annoyed at him.

"Yes." She confirmed with a nod.

"You any good?"

"I served on the first Normandy." She answered. "Served on several different starships during the First Contact War. I've brought back no less than two hundred and thirty-seven men and women back from the brink of death and let's not even get into the number of people I've treated for combat-related injuries."

There was a moment of silence, then:

"So you're good, then?"

"I like to think so." The woman answered with a smile. "Doctor Karin Chakwas."

She held out a hand and the mercenary shook it.

"I'm assuming you're Zaeed Massani?"

"That's me."

"I'll admit," She said, "I was expecting somebody a little more..."

"Psychotic?"

"A little." She agreed.

"Doc," He said, "Military doctors typically deal with people who are adverse to the killing and such. I've only met a select few veteran mercenaries who had a problem with killing."

"Do you enjoy killing?"

"Not really." Zaeed answered with a shrug. "I'm just good at it and I have no problems doing it."

"You've seen any action around my neck of the woods?" She asked.

"I was in the First Contact War." He said, "Beginning of my merc days, in fact. I was young, patriotic, but didn't care for joining the Marines. So, I grabbed some like-minded guys together and swindled a few lieutenants into pushing us into the hardest zones."

"How'd you fare?" She wondered.

"I was the only one to get off that planet alive." He answered, "But I got paid. Got one hell of a reputation for it, too. Been on several missions with Alliance personnel."

"You know," Doctor Chakwas told him, "I think I'd like to hear about them."

"Maybe when we stop by the Citadel sometime?" He asked, "I could use a goddamn drink."

"I think I'd like that." She answered, a small smile on her face. "Been too long since I've reminisced on my past."

"And I guess I'll trust that your hand is as good as you say, Doc." Zaeed answered. "Now, I need to go talk to that Vakarian. He did a damn good job on Omega and-"

"Coming from someone like you," A familiar flanged voice said from behind him, "I'll take that as a big compliment."

Zaeed turned to find the turian at the doorway, looking mightily amused at the conversation. Zaeed used to have a hard time nailing turian expressions down, since even the krogan were more expressive than the stoic bids, but he'd eventually gotten used to it. The mandibles and eyes were the trick.

"No no," Garrus said, striding forward and seating himself on one of the four operating tables, "I'm just here to make sure the cybernetics are taking. Please feel free to keep expounding on my successes."

Zaeed decided not to point out to the cocky turian that the only reason his last stand had been a success was because their team had shown up right in the nick of time. Otherwise, Vakarian would've been dead.

"Well," Chakwas told him, "Your undeserved pride aside, given that you were on your way to death before Jane and the team showed up, I'm surprised to see you up and moving."

"There's some pain." He admitted, staring down at the ground, "But I need to be helping. I owe everyone that much."

"Jane still angry at you, huh?" Chakwas asked.

Zaeed noticed an uncomfortable look thrown his way, but he stayed. He knew just as well as the next man that the inner workings between teams could calculate into success or failure.

"Yeah," The turian replied, staring at the ground. "I don't know why-"

"Of course you don't." Chakwas muttered.

"But I'm still combat capable." Garrus finished. He sat back as Chakwas started to inspect him. "It's good to be amongst friends, again. Yes, even you, Karin."

"Do you have friends, Zaeed?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Zaeed asked. He noted the looks on both of the people's faces and changed his tone so as not to cause problems. "A merc like me doesn't make many friends. Had this thing with an asari girl once, but then she sold me out to a batarian group. Didn't work too well after that."

"I'd imagine." Garrus replied. "Don't you get tired of it?"

"Hell yeah." Zaeed answered. "This is supposed to be my last mission. My big retirement. My mission on Zorya and the money Cerberus has paid me will keep me well. But..."

"But?" Chakwas pressed.

"I'm not stupid." He said, "Assuming that the Shepards aren't raving mad-"

"They're not." Garrus growled angrily.

"There's a war coming." He continued, not even acknowledging the turian's anger. "I'd be an idiot if I thought I could stay out of it. The galaxy will need people like me and from where I sit, I won't be able to enjoy my retirement if we're being wiped out."

"So you intend to join the war?" Garrus asked, surprised.

"I may be something of a heartless man, Vakarian," Zaeed answered, "But I'm not unreasonable."

"First," Garrus muttered his eyes downcast, "We need to survive this suicide mission."

There was a silence as they all pondered that impossibility.

"Sometimes, Vakarian," Zaeed finally said, "A cheery goddamn outlook will get you far."

**_Some of you might've noticed that when I switch perspectives, the writing style shifts a little bit to match the character. That's intentional.  
_**


	20. Chapter 20

_**Garrus Vakarian - Korlus**_

Jane had once again split the team and Garrus once again found himself by her side. Tali, John, Zaeed and Jacob were on the Citadel, buying upgrades for their weapons and armor. Jacob also said he had some work to do on the armor, so they'd been dropped off at the citadel before the jump to the nearly deserted planet.

The planet was an arid brown and red, occasionally improved by long stretches of grey. The base that they were flying into was more closely related to a gigantic heap of scrap metal. If Garrus had to guess, he'd say the base had long ago been run down and the Blue Suns had simply moved in and built or repaired what they needed.

Garrus found Korlus to be just as dirty and disgusting as he figured it'd be. The Blue Suns out on the harsh arid planet, though, seemed greatly disorganized when they landed. As soon as Jane's team was out of the transport, they realized why.

Before them was a spread out battle of Blue Suns and powerful-looking krogan. There was a voice sounding out over some sort of loudspeakers that were installed all over the base. Garrus looked up at the tiny device attached to a wall as it started broadcasting.

"If the krogan push through, I will personally make sure each and every one of you are dead!" A woman's voice resounded over the devices. If Garrus had to guess, he'd figure it was the woman in charge. From what he could tell, it sounded like she was on the standard power trip, but it didn't explain why there were krogan rampaging all over the base.

Garrus noticed that Miranda seemed to be glaring at Jack and vice-versa. He couldn't figure out if something had been said or if the two just inherently disliked each other. He made a not to bring it up to Jane, when the woman had time. She was much more of a 'unity' person than he was and could probably do something to fix their problems.

_One thing at a time, son. _His father's voice resounded in his head.

After the incident on Omega, Garrus had called his father. Garrus had first apologized profusely for worrying the man over his life. His father had gotten word of what had happened and had been shocked when he found out about the extensive injuries that Garrus had received to his face. They'd had a very long talk, up to and including his involvement with a woman working for Cerberus. His father had been pleased, at least, that Garrus was doing something with some purpose, rather than aimlessly killing thugs and mercs.

"Bitch loves to hear her own voice." Jack muttered behind him, dragging Garrus back into the current situation. He quietly reprimanded himself for letting himself get distracted.

"If I ever go on one of these power trips," Jane started, looking around, "Kill me."

Garrus felt his mandibles tug upwards into a smile and Jane's eyes met his briefly. Her smile dropped and she looked back to the front. Garrus knew his actions on Omega had, for whatever reason, completely disgusted her. What he couldn't figure out was why. They'd mowed down hundreds of mercs and criminals during the hunt for Saren. He just couldn't understand why she was so upset over what he'd done.

Still, it was a personal matter. Garrus tried to keep those out of the way of missions. Problem was, Jane was one of the very few friends he had and he aimed to keep it that way. So he'd do what he had to to fix the rift between them.

Jane motioned forward and Garrus followed her, feeling Jack and Kasumi on his flank. Miranda was up ahead, with Shepard. Garrus didn't particularly like the Cerberus Operative. She was impossibly cold and arrogant. He'd also sensed several hostile signals from her that undoubtedly stemmed from him being an alien and being one of the few leaders on the ship with the capability to replace her.

_Me, a leader. _Garrus thought to himself morosely. _Look how that ended._

If that was hostility, though, it had nothing compared to the woman on his left. Jack had pretty much invaded his space in the batteries, striding in without announcement like the room belonged to her. Garrus had a quick, but very strange and confusing talk with her. Somehow, he had managed to end up on her good side, though he still wasn't sure exactly how that had happened. Especially considering how disgusting he found the woman, due to her chosen profession as a criminal with no real particular care what crime she committed.

Still, she'd knifed a man in prison who'd done some unfathomably despicable things to children. Garrus suspected she had a very loose morality of sorts that she didn't let anyone in on, but he'd eventually figure her out. At the very least, he'd sleep easier if she fixed whatever the hell was wrong with her.

At least Kasumi was much simpler. While he typically had a serious problem with thieves. Kasumi had a policy of only stealing from the rich and undeserving. Much like the difference between a murderer and a killer. She faithfully toed the line and it was a distinction that Garrus could respect. Though he hadn't had any face time with her, the woman settled in next to him comfortably enough.

They moved into an outpost, where they mowed down six mercs, two of them toting rocket launchers. Jane had Garrus move around the outside of the main group to draw the merc's fire. After a close call with a rocket launcher, Garrus had to remind himself that most rockets and missiles usually missed him.

Usually.

They moved to forward to another path, which featured bridges built over a winding path in the center of the area. Garrus looked over to see several opportunities the Blue Suns could use to hit them from above and then come in at ground level to finish the distracted team off. Garrus spotted a small area at the top landing of a ramp to the path that he could use to keep the team covered most of the way through the path up to a bend to the right.

"Shepard." Garrus called, drawing Jane's attention. He pointed to the bridge and a high wallat the turn of the path. "If you want, I can keep the team covered from guys up top until you hit the bend."

"Do that." The Spectre answered immediately. Garrus nodded and set up at the railing. There was a sheet of metal below the railing that was protecting the rest of his body, much to his relief. Jane wound behind him and down the ramp. When she got to the bottom, a trio of Blue Suns popped out from behind cover on the bridge and pepper the group below with small arms fire. Garrus sighted on the merc on the left and fired.

He didn't even bother to watch the round tear a bloody path in the man's skull. He panned to the right and let off a quick shot, meant to hit the merc in the middle, regardless of location. His careful aim- or lack thereof- paid off. The round slapped the merc in the shoulder. Even with the merc's barrier and armor deflecting the shot, it was still enough to throw the man off balance and stumble him directly into the path of Jane and the rest of the team. He was mowed down as Garrus finished the last one with a perfectly-aimed shot to the chest.

He looked down to see Jane with a hand to her arm. She took the hand away and Garrus saw the crimson smear of blood on her hand.

He felt the smallest moment of alarm, knowing full well that humans had arteries in their arms and legs that were perfectly capable of bleeding out.

"You alright?" He asked quietly, speaking on the comms line as she (and the rest of the team) continued forward.

"You took a missile to the face." She reminded him over their line, "I think I can walk this one off."

Garrus felt another slight smile coming on at the quip. While he didn't understand the 'walk this off' idiom, he got the gist well enough. At least she wasn't threatening him with banishment from the team, anymore.

Garrus spotted a couple of Blue suns trying to approach on the high wall and fire down at the team. While they engaged forces around the bend, he picked the two off. Jane didn't even pay attention to the threat until they fell to the ground bodily next to Kasumi.

"Gah!" She yelled in surprise. Garrus saw her flinch from behind her cover before regaining her composure. "Sorry, startled me."

They continued on past several ramparts in which Garrus was forced to get down on ground level and sharpshoot from behind cover. It wasn't until three skirmishes that they found their first lead.

"We got a live one!" Jack yelled, sounding way too pleased that she'd found someone alive. They all rounded the corner to see a younger human in Blue Suns armor. He had what Garrus immediately identified as a non-fatal gash on his side. He looked at Jane, who considered the soldier as he looked up at her.

Garrus could hear the distant sounds of battle starting to wear out. Garrus had to wonder if the krogan were starting to overwhelm the mercs.

"It's not that bad, actually." He muttered to Jane, indicating the merc's wounds from afar.

"He doesn't need to know that." Jane replied with a grin, her green eyes mirthful as she turned back to the merc. "What's going on here?"

"I don't-" He gasped and Garrus suppressed a laugh, "Don't have to tell you anything."

"Medi-gel to change your mind?" Jane asked, much to Garrus' amusement.

The merc cursed and looked away, weighing his options. Judging by the not-so-serious wound in his side, Garrus could easily guess what his decision would be. Sure enough, when he looked back up at Jane, Garrus found an emotion in his gaze that he'd learned to identify in C-Sec: Defeat.

"Jedore's been using a krogan warlord by the name of Okeer to engineer krogan for her."

"A Genophage cure?" Miranda wondered. Garrus watched Kasumi check around the corner ahead. She saw him looking at her and she gave him a nod to let him know everything was alright.

"No." He answered, "Not a Genophage cure, just...cloning, really. Jedore's on a standard power trip, but Okeer seems to have other plans. He set the krogan free before they were ready and...well..."

"A krogan riot." Jack grinned, looking up at Jane. "I love it."

"So are you going to give me some medi-gel?" The merc asked.

Much to Garrus' annoyance, Jane actually bent down and spread some over the man's wound. The merc, who they had wounded while he was shooting at them, would've been fine without it. She just couldn't go back on her damn word.

They walked away and started back to it. This time, they headed underground, finding themselves fighting krogan in a large cavern of some sort. The methods were simple. Garrus and Kasumi had overload programs loaded on their omni-tools that they'd use to fry the krogan shields, letting Jack and Jane fill the brutes with bullets. Garrus noticed something, though. The krogan seemed confused, like they didn't know where they were.

"Anybody else think these krogan might be a bit...insane?" Garrus asked as they started up towards what seemed to be another set of ramparts that undoubtedly led to the scientist.

"All krogan are a bit insane." Kasumi pointed out.

"I mean..." Garrus continued, trying to put an explanation to the argument, "It makes no sense. Why fight the Blue Suns? If they know who the Blue Suns are, they know that the group can bring the rath of the entire organization, if need be."

"Maybe they don't know better." Jack answered with a shrug. "Fuck does it matter?"

"Or they lack perspective." Jane replied, catching on to what Garrus was trying to say. "They've just been cloned, they don't know who's good or bad."

"Exactly." Garrus said. "My best guess would be to leave the krogan alone if we find them engaged with the Blue Suns. It might buy us enough goodwill that they'll stear clear of us."

"It's worth a shot." Jane replied as they emerged back into the dusky sunlight and twisted ruins, "Here we go."

Garrus looked ahead to find a squad-sized group of Blue Suns engaging with a group of krogans. They were in a perfect position to flank and gain high ground, which would make things easy. Jack and Miranda took the unarmored targets, while Garrus put rounds down on the couple of Blue Suns who were carrying heavy weapons. Jane and Kasumi were able to take the rest.

When the battle was over, the krogan turned to the team. They looked at each other and one finally separated himself from the group.

"Who are you?" The krogan asked. He was armored in a red armor that looked very similar to Blood Pack colors. Garrus assumed it was simply pilfered armor that had been given to him when he'd been woken up. "Mercenaries?"

"Outsiders." Jane answered instantly. Garrus noticed that her Vindicator was still in hand but the barrel was down. "We have business with Okeer. The non-violent kind."

"And why should we let you pass?" He asked, his orange lizard-eyes watching Garrus with vague anger.

"There are only five of you." Jack answered with a smirk, "You don't have a chance."

"I'll admit..."The krogan said, looking almost pensive, "It may be wise for us to avoid a fight, right now. We are a breed apart from the rest of the krogan, since we're cloned without the Genophage-"

"Wait." Garrus said, holding up a hand and forestalling the story, "Did you say you don't have the Genophage?"

"We haven't been exposed to it and due to our birth process..." The krogan started, looking back at Garrus, "We're all only a moon cycle old and we have nowhere to go."

"Why not start out here?" Jane asked. Garrus caught the wide smile on her face and realized she was being serious. "Free yourselves of the Blue Suns and live down here without them?"

"Jane." Garrus interrupted sharply, not at all pleased by the prospect of another planet filled with krogan, "That may not be-"

The look she gave him silenced him instantly and he reminded himself that she'd have no problem kicking him off the ship. He shrugged in answer to her glare, letting her know that she won the non-verbal debate.

"We will do that." The krogan answered, looking at his five comrades. "We will find who we can and maybe start a colony. This world seems arid enough, besides. Thank you, outsiders."

"Good luck." Jane told the krogan as they strode away.

They continued on and Garrus could feel the noticeably colder link between him and Jane. As they worked through the continuing battles on the skywalks, the battles lacked their normal banter and Garrus felt a little bit ashamed of himself.

As he drew a bead on a Blue Sun merc trying to use his sniper rifle to shoot around cover, Garrus thought about his team on Omega again. He'd failed them back then and it seemed as though the quality of his leadership hadn't improved since then.

_Sidonis. _He thought to himself as he squeezed the trigger. The merc's head disappeared and his body sagged to the ground lifelessly. _I wish that was you. _

They moved across a bridge and found themselves back inside. There were a pair of Blue Suns that Garrus was able to finish at range, with some biotic assistance from Miranda. Jane, Kasumi and Jack focused on all the other troops that poured through the door and Garrus wondered to himself if they'd just found the warlord's laboratory.

"Get them, you fools!" A brown haired woman yelled, pointing towards the group as another fresh wave of troops came out. "What am I paying you for?!"

_That wonderful woman must be Jedore. _Garrus thought to himself, tracking the woman's movements with his scope. As the battle raged in front of him, he'd become obscured in the frenzy, leaving her unaware of his presence.

He waited until she poked her head out from cover, missile launcher aimed down on a distracted Jane. Garrus felt his heart speed up as he fired early, the shot still managing to find its target. The round tore through her shields and punctured the armor at her chest, penetrating center mass. The Blue Suns leader went down.

The shot caught Jane's attention and she looked over to see the woman collapsing, the missile launcher falling from her hands. Garrus saw Jane look at him as she ducked back behind cover, but he was already on to the next target.

The rest of the battle was fairly simple and when the last trooper fell, Garrus looked up from his scope to see Jane looking around.

"Any injuries?" she asked.

Nobody had anything to say and they started forward again. Jane motioned Garrus up to her and he joined her at the lead as they headed towards a door at the end of the square-shaped room.

"Thanks." She muttered as they stacked up outside the door.

"I've taken a missile before." Garrus pointed out. "You don't have the face to support these kinds of scars."

Garrus was appalled when, instead of rushing in like she'd clearly been about to, Jane turned to him with something of a smirk on her face.

"What's that supposed to mean, Vakarian?" She asked, "Something wrong with my face?"

"There's nothing wrong with it." Garrus answered, confused. She gave him a smile and Garrus found himself utterly perplexed as she started to move. He refocused his mind on the task at hand. Mainly, that they had a room to clear.

Garrus was in the room and as she went left, he went right. The room was clear of enemies or life at all, save for the body on the floor.

The krogan before them looked pretty old and was built heavily, to boot. His eyes were closed and Garrus didn't have to check the krogan's vitals to know that the warlord was dead.

"Okeer?" Garrus asked, looking up at Jane. She'd read the dossier and knew what he looked like.

Witha frown on her face, she nodded.

"Commander." Miranda said, drawing the attention of the rest of the group. She was at a console that sat next to some sort of armored pod, typing away as she looked up at the video screen. "Looks like Okeer left you a note."

The dead krogan's face suddenly appeared on the screen above the console. Garrus watched as Blue Suns milled about, unwisely paying little attention to the krogan.

"I've been watching the security vids and I know your face." He growled quietly. "Shepard, the butcher of Virmire. I don't know what brings you here, but I assume it's me. I'm the only thing on this rock of note. I have nothing for you, but beg of you to fulfill one request."

"Even when they're dead, people want something from you." Kasumi noted with a smirk as she looked at Jane.

"No kidding." Jane muttered.

"I have in this pod the product of years of work." He continued, "This one is genetically perfect; pure krogan. He is my legacy, my grunt. Please, take him from this planet and make him strong."

"Get away from there!" A Blue Sun yelled, noticing the warlord at the terminal. The video cut off, after that.

"Hold one." Miranda said. She hit a few more controls and the armoring over the pod slid away.

Garrus found himself staring at an unusual krogan. He wasn't quite as impossibly big as Wrex, but he certainly was bigger than Garrus would ever like to tangle with. His skin was a pale orange and yellow. The most defining feature of him was his crest. It was undeveloped, looking more like a scattering of hard silver scales than a full grown crest. He was armored in some sort of silver armor with a round electrical source in the center that undoubtedly powered the shields on the armor.

"That's one big son of a bitch." Jack muttered. Garrus had to agree with the woman, for once.

"We could use a krogan on the team." Jane pointed out.

"I think Jack's perfectly capable of manhandling anything we come across, thanks." Garrus muttered. He noticed Jack shoot that crazy grin at him and Garrus realized that she'd taken that as a compliment.

"Nobody's really asked him what he wants." Kasumi answered. "No telling what'll happens when he wakes up."

"We should-" Miranda started, but Jane cut over her immediately. Garrus had seen her do it several times before and suspected that Jane was trying to remind Miranda who was in charge while only being a tiny bit rude about it.

"We'll pick him up now and I'll mull the question over." Jane answered. "Worse comes to worst, I can dump him on Tuchunka and let someone deal with him down there."

"Affirmative, Shepard." Miranda answered. Garrus saw faint annoyance on her face, to his pleasure.

"Joker." Shepard radioed in, "Okeer's a no-go. We have a package that needs picking up."

Garrus looked at the krogan again and had one final thought about him.

_I hope we don't regret this one. _

_**I didn't do Grunt's introduction chapter before his mission because the only thing I could do was a brief 'waking up for a few seconds' chapter for introduction and that would've been...well...lame. Don't worry, he's next.**_


	21. Chapter 21

_**Krogan Clone - Normandy SR-2**_

The krogan felt jolted awake suddenly, his constantly active mind now racing to figure out where and why he'd been woken up. Crystal-colored eyes glanced around the room, taking in everything they could.

The krogan saw metal of a sleek, well-built kind. To his left was a thick window displaying some sort of drive core that was softly emenating blue mass effect fields.

He was on a ship. Judging by all the crap lying around, he was in the cargo area of a ship. He'd never once imagined he'd be waking up on a ship, of all places. He'd been certain he would've woken up to Okeer and the disgusting planet the warlord called 'home'.

The krogan felt no small level of confusion as he finally leveled his gaze at the four people before him.

He reached back into his memory and found Okeer's memory of the humans. They were a cunning species that were almost comparable to the turians in military might. They'd been battling ever since they'd made it to the rest of galaxy, something that Grunt could appreciate.

The first human was a woman. She was tall, for her gender. She was built compact and in the seconds the krogan looked at her, he sensed that she was well-used to her body. Some sort of red stringy stuff framed her face, which had a pair of green eyes watching him suspiciously.

_Eyes are both set on the front of the face. _He observed, _Not the eyes of a predator._

The krogan noticed spindly red lines running through the woman's face. He had been imprinted with the concept of cybernetics, mostly used for medical reasons.

The man next to her couldn't have been anymore different. He was unnaturally large, for his species. Both in height and width. The stuff on his head was much closer to the top of his head and he was staring the krogan down with similarly-colored eyes.

The memories left with him had never indicated beings so cybernetically modified and rebuilt. Especially the male. He seemed almost...unnatural.

Just like the krogan.

Behind them were two other species, both of which had been imprinted on the krogan.

The first was a turian in blue armor who looked on edge. The krogan knew he was supposed to hate turians, but he didn't feel hate. Okeer's imprints hadn't taught him the hatred of turians, only the concept. The turian looked tough enough, with scarring that was emphasized by a part of his armor collar warped and twisted away from some sort of rocket or missile. Cold blue eyes watched the krogan.

The second was a quarian in some sort of elaborate black and purple environmental suit. The imprint the krogan had on them was that they were deceptively good fighters, but easily rendered incapable through suit tears. This one was on the smaller end of them and the krogan would've thought her a simple civilian, but for the ease she grasped her shotgun with. Silver eyes met his through a clear mask that seemed to be foggy with some sort of atmosphere.

The krogan knew he needed to get off the ship. His purpose and his reason for being were completely unknown to him. What he did know is that rage was slowly starting to seethe through him. He wanted to kill something, but he didn't know what.

Lastly, he needed a name. Something to identify himself by. Without it, he was faceless. A ghost. While being a ghost might've been perfect for those nimble little drells, the krogan didn't like the idea of being unknown.

He stood to his full height and looked down at the two humans. He didn't know them, didn't particularly care who they were. What he did know was that he needed a good fight and these two seemed as good a group as any to start with.

With a roar of rage, he immediately swung towards the biggest threat of the two humans. He grabbed the man and slung him upwards, slamming the human into the bulkhead. He was about to crush the man's neck with his forearm as the big human dangled there, until he heard the tapping of metal on metal. He looked down to see a pistol aimed at his stomach. He turned to find that everyone had reacted much faster than he'd expected, with the quarian even close enough that the barrel of her shotgun was only a few inches from his head.

_Clearly warriors or soldiers. _The krogan thought to himself. _Good._

"Let him go, now." The quarian commanded, her voice having a strange intonation to it that the krogan was unable to understand.

He wanted a fight, but he didn't relish the idea of his life being snuffed out mere moments after awakening. He ignored the quarian and looked back at the human, not even really seeing him. The imprints told him that society expected him, in a situation such as this one, to introduce himself. He didn't have a name, though.

"Human." He grunted, looking into the fearless green eyes of the man dangling by the neck from his forearm. "Male. I need a name."

"I'm Staff Sergeant Shepard." The man replied. The krogan wasn't surprised he was a soldier. "I don't take threats lightly. I suggest you calm down, now."

"Not your name, mine." The krogan clarified. His gaze turned downward, pensive. "I was left with imprints, but no identity. No name. Warlord...legacy...grunt...Grunt. It's short, matches the training in my blood. It'll do."

He looked back up and glared back into the man's eyes, challenging him.

"I am Grunt." He announced, "If you are worthy, then prove yourself and fight me."

"You want to die?" The man asked.

Grunt didn't want to die, but the rage in his body was demanding he fight or kill. Grunt forced the anger down, long enough that he was able to speak evenly.

"I have no path, no cause." Grunt answered, "Without those, one fight is as good as the next."

"We have a cause." The human woman interrupted from behind Grunt. "The galaxy."

"Do you have enemies?" Grunt asked, feeling the slightest spark of hope within him. The hope that, somehow, he'd awoken into a war.

"Our enemies threaten the galaxy itself." The turian answered. Grunt gazed at the turian, weighing the answer, before looking back at the human before him.

"You say you fight for the galaxy." Grunt told him, "Prove it. Prove that you're strong."

Grunt wanted a fight and he wanted one immediately. Something about the way the human in front of him didn't even hesitate to answer told him that he was in for a good one right out of the tank.

He felt a blow to the side of his face by something metal. Grunt stumbled, processing that he'd just been hit by the man's pistol quicker than he was able to track. He heard jostling behind him, followed by a voice.

"Don't shoot." The Alliance soldier said from behind him, "The Lieutenant's got the shotgun. Leave her in here and I'll get him on board."

Grunt whipped around to see the turian and human female leaving the room. Judging from the expression on the human's face, she was worried. Due to the similar features between the two, Grunt assumed they were siblings. The turian didn't even look concerned. The quarian took to a corner of the small bay, but didn't raise the shotgun.

Grunt felt a smile coming on as he stared down the human. The human had been willing to fight him fairly in a match of strength versus strength. Maybe he had fallen into better company than he thought.

Grunt lashed out without warning, catching Shepard with a fist to the gut. The oversized human didn't even seem concerned, backing away to circle around the krogan. Grunt charged, intending to body slam the man into the bulkhead, but the soldier moved out of the way in time and the rampaging krogan had to catch himself on the wall to keep from slamming into it.

Grunt heard the human rushing up behind him and swung his arm around, unleashing a vicious backhand that he put his whole body into as he twisted around. Shepard couldn't dodge it in time and caught the full blow of his armored hand on his cheek. Grunt felt satisfaction as the human staggered slightly and the quarian gasped.

He moved to finish the man before the fight could wear on, when the human surprised him by getting in really close and grabbing him by the shoulders.

A blow to the back of his knee forced him to buckle. No amount of training could make up for the fact that krogans weighed nearly twice as much in the upper body than the lower body. This, combined with the force being exerted on his shoulders, was too much for the top-heavy krogan. Grunt felt himself falling backwards and as soon as he hit the ground, the Staff Sergeant was on top of him.

Blow after blow rained down on the krogan and Grunt felt flustered as he tried in vain to protect himself. After a flurry of blows to the sides of his head, Grunt became so disoriented that he let his hands drop, unable to offer resistance to the overpowering human.

He felt no small amount of respect as the human ended it there, knowing full well that he had won the fight without needing to send the krogan into unconsciousness. Chest heaving slightly, the human stood and looked down at Grunt.

Grunt felt his confused mind slowly coming back to him. He was trained for fighting, but he had never been in a fight. The experience was overwhelming to him, but he knew if he stuck with the human standing over him, he'd get that experience. As it was, he was absolutely certain that Shepard was as seasoned as they came. For that matter, he could also tell that the man wasn't the average human.

Still, Grunt noted with some pride that there was a bruise welling up on the man's cheek where he'd gotten the back of Grunt's armored hand.

"You've been modified." Grunt observed, his gravelly voice speaking volumes of respect for the man. "No ordinary human, even at your size, should be that fast and strong. If the imprint is right."

"It's right, Grunt." Shepard answered, still standing over the krogan. "I was rebuilt after being spaced and falling into the orbit of a remote planet."

"I'm sure he could've taken you down before the operation." The quarian chipped in. Grunt couldn't help but notice the smug tone of her voice. He supposed that he'd earned it, since he'd nearly killed one of her comrades.

"You fought honorably, Shepard." Grunt informed the human. "If your enemies are truly that strong, I will fight alongside you."

"Then welcome to the team, Grunt." Shepard told him, extending a hand down to the krogan.

_I got lucky. _Grunt reminded himself. _I got woken up into a group of warriors on a mission. What better place for me to start?_

With a grin and a flush of satisfaction, the krogan grabbed the offered hand and pulled himself up.


	22. Chapter 22

_**The Illusive Man - Unknown Location**_

The Cerberus leader sat in his dark room, fingers idly drumming on the arm of his chair as he read the report on Horizon. The report was more of a lack of a report, with his spies down on the colony tellingly silent. He knew what that meant, at this point.

The Illusive Man was waiting on a call from Commander Shepard. She'd found all of her teammates easily enough and from what he understood, her brother certainly made good use of his enhanced abilities.

The Illusive Man still wasn't completely comfortable with the amount of aliens the two had brought aboard their ship. Operative Lawson's reports indicated, much to the man's surprise, that the aliens were far less volatile than a couple of the humans. Namely Jack.

Never in his life would the Illusive Man had thought he'd have Subject Zero directly in reach. He'd harbored a slight suspicion that Jack was Subject Zero when he'd seen the criminal record but hadn't been willing to hang on to that hope.

Now, though, it seemed she was right within reach and willing to help the Shepards on their mission. He would make sure that he fed her the right information. He made a note to get a team down to the Pragia facility and modify a few records for her benefit. Once the mission was over, she'd have nowhere to go.

He'd get one of the most powerful biotics ever created and one of the strongest soldiers created in one swoop. Then he could just have Operative Lawson find a way to mass produce them safely. The woman would do anything for him.

Besides, she'd already worked on SSgt. Shepard and the Illusive Man had all of the research data from the Pragia facility. Once she put both of them on a slab, he wouldn't even need to fund that much tech or research to get the job done.

_But where would I find the soldiers..._ He wondered to himself. _Separated Alliance seems like a good start. Some of their Category Six trauma dropouts might not be a bad idea...I'll have Petrovsky run up a list, since he knows everyone in the Alliance._

Once the Reaper war began, the Illusive Man was certain that he'd have no problem recruiting the more stubborn soldiers into the ranks. For now, he'd take the easiest converts.

The projection in front of him pinged, alerting him to an oncoming connection. The Illusive Man gathered his thoughts and brought the forgotten cigarette to his lips, inhaling deeply. His favorite bourbon already sat on his right.

Jane Shepard showed up in front of him, with her brother at her side. The Illusive Man stared back at them with mechanical blue eyes for a moment, then started talking.

"Commander, we've got a situation." The Illusive Man told the woman without preamble, "My associates on Horizon have stopped checking in. I believe it's under attack."

"We'll need to move quickly, then." Commander Shepard muttered, turning to her brother. "EDI, get Joker to get us started that way."

"Has Doctor Solus come up with a way to ward off the seeker swarms?" The Illusive Man asked the Spectre.

"Not yet." The woman answered, folding her arms as she seemed to enter a somewhat pensive state.

"Let's hope he works well under pressure." The Illusive Man answered, glancing down at his glass as he swirled the golden liquid around. He needed to put the next to her tactfully. He looked back up at Commander and began again. "There's one other thing. One of your former teammates, Ashley Williams, is stationed on Horizon."

"That can't be a coincidence." His rather expensive project answered. He scratched at his arm in a clear sign of discomfort at the idea of having to meet with the woman.

"I doubt it is." The Illusive Man answered. "The Alliance is up to something and I don't like it."

"It won't get in the way." The Commander assured him. The Illusive Man could hear a tone of bemusement under her voice that informed him that she wasn't too fond of the woman. That was good, as the Illusive Man didn't want any interference in the mission.

"I'll have a report once we're finished at the colony." Commander Shepard answered.

"Good luck, Shepard." The Illusive Man told her, "This is the most warning we've ever had."

He shut the connection down as the two turned away. He waited a moment, before filling out a request to Petrovsky.

_If I'm going to win this war. _He reminded himself, _I'm going to need an army._

_**I'm gonna level with everyone. I hated Kaidan/Ashley. In the first game, Kaidan's boring and Ashley's racist. In the second game, they spew non-sensical hate at you faster than you can say 'random mood swings' and in the third, they spend the first quarter of the game questioning your every move. As such, I don't think I had a playthrough on a male or female character where they were the romantic interest. I'm probably not going to be very nice to Ashley (Kaidan's dead in this story), here.**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Staff Sergeant John Shepard - Horizon**_

John stood on the grassy hill leading up to the perimeter of the colony. Behind him was Grunt and Tali. Both he and Jane had agreed that, since the seeker swarms were specifically targeting humans, it'd be best to limit human involvement.

His job was a simple one. They'd both seen the Collector ship looming in the distance and had assumed they'd be dealing with the full compliment of whatever troops the Collectors had. So, an agreement was reached that he would take Tali and Grunt and draw the Collectors out. With that done, she'd be more or less clear to enter and reactivate the colony's defenses. Then they'd go from there. They'd gotten in touch with Admiral Hackett, who was standing by with Alliance forces in a nearby system and awaiting their word that the colony was clear.

They moved up from the Kodiak and into the first house. The water was still running in one of the sinks, along with a couple plates food on the table.

_Still smells fresh. _John thought to himself as he moved to the sink and turned it off.

"This is so eerie." Tali muttered behind him.

They both heard the clacking of plates and turned around to find Grunt tipping the contents of one of the plates into his mouth, shotgun hanging from one hand. Over the plate, he saw both of their glances and as he put the plate down on the table.

"What?" He rumbled, his piercing blue gaze looking between them in annoyance. "Are they planning on coming back?"

John shook his head as he turned back towards the front. He could see figures moving in the distance ahead and realized with a small thrill of excitement that this would be the first time they'd be directly engaging their enemy face-to-face.

While he couldn't get a very good look at the Collectors, he knew they weren't in a very defensible position. He was looking for a unit with one way in and out, with no more than two windows. He scanned around the area, trying to find his spot.

"C'mon..." Grunt mumbled, the krogan's excited tension nearly enough to feel. "Let's kill them, already."

"Hold, Grunt." John muttered, still looking around the colony, "We'll be meeting them soon, but we don't want to engage too early and be caught in a bad position."

The krogan just grunted, joining John in the search. John had already told them all what he was looking for in a position.

"There." Grunt pointed. John followed his finger to find a perfect unit. It was backed into a corner of an inner wall, denying the Collectors two directions to come from. He could see only one long window, with a door on its flank.

"That's perfect." John agreed. "Tali, do you still have the explosives?"

She gave him a very strange look.

"I do, John." She answered, the last word very hesitant.

John was surprised to hear her call him by first name and thought about chewing her out until he realized that he _liked _hearing his name from her. It'd been a long time since anyone but Jane had used his first name and it...sounded pretty good. He also realized that he'd started it first, unintentionally calling her by first name.

_Strange._

"Alright," He said, "Let's go."

They slowly moved behind a pair of units and out into a square. It was from here that John got his first look at the Collectors.

They stood nearly uniformly at six feet tall and they looked very similar to insects. They were covered with thick-looking brown carapaces, accompanied by small insect wings on their backs. Triangular heads were accompanied by four yellow, vibrant eyes.

Their weapons looked strange, but John figured he'd soon find out how they worked.

Tali was the first in the building, her shotgun up. She cleared the room ahead as John moved in next. He set up his Mattock at the window as Tali moved in next to him and Grunt took up a position at the door.

"Alright." John started, "Grunt, you've got anything coming that way. Lieu...Tali and I will let some bleed off towards you. You'll get your kills in, trust me."

"Wouldn't have it another way." Grunt agreed.

"We're going to need to cause a lot of noise." John reminded them, "The point is to lighten the load of the advance."

"Got it." Tali answered.

"We ready?" John asked, looking around. Tali and Grunt nodded and John looked back at the Collectors moving some sort of pods in a sick convoy in the direction of the ship. He counted at least thirty directly in view, probably more further back. He pulled the butt of the Mattock into the pocket of his shoulder and laid his cheek down on it, allowing him to aim accurately down the sights. "Do your absolute best not to hit the pods."

With that, he waited for a lull in his breathing and fired. The Mattock made up for its single-round firing in its accuracy. It was also a great weapon for preserving ammo, which would be essential in creating a defensive position.

The shot was meant for accuracy, a very well-aimed shot that was typically only seen at the outset of an engagement, rather than in the midst of a fierce engagement. The round entered through the side of a Collector's head and out, dropping the insectoid alien With a garbled cry.

The Collector's reacted instantly. The floating pods dropped to the ground and the Collector's turned towards John, not sure of the source of fire. Tali fired her Carnifex pistol next, one of the (relatively) big rounds putting a solid hole through a Collector. As it dropped, John managed to put a pair of rounds into another trooper before they began firing.

The weapons were something John had never encountered before. Simply put, they were particle beams. John ducked as one of the beams roared over his head. He could feel the heat from them as Tali continued firing.

He counted a couple of seconds that the beam continued, before the Collector stopped firing. He figured they fired in bursts, to preserve whatever power source kept the beam firing. He popped up over cover as a couple of Collectors slid around a building to flank them.

John heard a roar of approval from Grunt, who started firing away with his own Avenger as John put down another Collector. He'd started Grunt off with a very simple assault rifle and shotgun, much to the krogan's disappointment. He knew Grunt was trained by Okeer through learning programs to use weapons, but he didn't quite want Grunt just up and deciding on a style of weapon without first mastering the basic models.

He put down another Collector and noticed a group of them under cover out of Tali's field of vision.

"Tali!" He yelled over the gunfire. He didn't look and see if the quarian woman had acknowledged him. "Grenade to your two!"

He let loose three rounds through the body of a Collector who'd stood from cover too long, then heard the explosion of a frag grenade nearby, followed by some more gunfire from Tali. A beam fired over his shoulder, just barely missing him. He tracked its source and fired a pair of rounds center mass into a Collector. It didn't kill the insect, but was enough to stall it and allow John to put another round through its head.

He saw more Collectors moving in from places beyond his vision to join the fight. He kept up the firing until he ran out of ammo, then ducked down behind the partition to reload. Tali and Grunt had both switched to their shotguns, leaving him the only person in the unit who was engaging them at mid-range.

John popped up just in time to see a Collector leveling his rifle at an unaware Tali. He felt a surge of adrenaline hit him as he realized she didn't even know she was about to be shot. As far out and as surrounded as they were, they wouldn't be able to get her to medical support in time to head off a serious infection.

"Get down!" He yelled unnecessarily. He leaped towards her, wrapping his arms around Tali and driving her to the floor under him. A pair of beams appeared over John's back, nearly cutting into him with how close they were.

He looked over the partition to find nearly forty Collectors filling the area. They'd already brought down nearly twenty, by his estimates, but if they didn't move, they'd be overrun.

"Grunt!" He yelled, still on the ground on top of a squirming Tali, "We need to start a moving defense. Start clearing us a path out through the flank!"

"You got it!" He yelled, the glee evident in his voice.

"John." He heard Tali's voice from under him. He looked down to find the quarian woman looking back at him, the usual almond-shaped eyes now turning into silvery half-moons. "We-uh...we need to get up."

Under heavy fire, John pushed himself up.

"Tali!" He yelled, "Help Grunt carve a path! I'm going to keep them occupied over here."

She wordlessly swept up next to Grunt and started firing, trying to clear out the Collectors in that direction. John moved back to the window and started putting rounds down towards the Collectors in that direction. He wasn't too worried about hitting anything, more concerned with them staying away from the flank than decimating their numbers.

"Jane." John spoke into his comms unit, "They're swarming us over here. Got sixty or so accounted for. Unless they have a battalion-sized element, you're clear to start your advance."

"On our way" His sister reported, sounding amused that he was less than impressed by being attacked by that many Collectors.

"We're clear!" Grunt yelled, then ducked another incoming beam. "Relatively!"

"Then we need to move to another position!" John yelled, "Go!"

Grunt burst from the doorway, shoving a Collector aside with a strong arm. Tali followed, pumping a shotgun shell into a trooper that stood from cover just a bit too long. Then she followed in Grunt's wake as the big krogan slammed his forehead into another incoming Collector.

John was next, but he'd made a tiny mistake. He'd misjudged the amount of time he should've followed Tali by a mere second. That second was enough that the Collectors had managed to push into the space between the quarian woman and the Alliance Marine, not allowing him as clear a path as he would've liked.

He counted no less than four Collectors that he'd have to put down before he could join with and move with Tali and Grunt to another location.

He fired a trio of rounds into the chest of the first one, the shots enough to drop him. John bulled into the second before it could raise its weapon and the next two were gunned down, but not by him. He looked up to see that Tali had stopped and was pointing her pistol down John's way.

"You can't just crush them with those paws, Staff Sergeant?" She asked, sounding amused.

John felt something close to a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, but nodded down towards Grunt in the distance as a beam skipped off his barriers.

"If we don't hurry, Tali," He said, "Grunt's going to eat our next defensible position."

_**This chapter and the next will both be relatively short chapters, since I'm splitting the Horizon mission into two chapters.  
Not going to like, I was THIS close to giving up on this story, since I'm still trying to finish At Civilization's End and I'm trying to write my own thing, but I'll keep it going.  
**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Jane Shepard - Horizon**_

From what Jane could hear, John was raising hell on the other side of the beautiful little colony. She could hear the gunfire, the explosions and she even thought she heard a very distant bellow from Grunt, at one point.

The seeker swarms had avoided them on touchdown and they were now starting to advance through the colony, only having to deal with a maximum of ten Collectors per skirmish.

It wasn't until they cleared their way through an amush that Mordin made a discovery.

"Look at these pods, Shepard." He said.

Shepard moved over to one of the strange-looking pods they'd all noticed along the way. Over the brown and red pod was a film of sorts, that they could just barely see through. She saw a shape under there, though. A human shape.

She'd figured that's what they were there for, but had managed to forget all about the pods in the engagements on the way to the batteries. She realized she had several problems with these pods. For one, she wouldn't be able to use them for cover, but also...

"John."

"Ye-" John started, but then he got distracted. "Dammit, Grunt, we're in the middle of combat. Stop trying to eat their food! Yeah, what, Jane?"

"The pods are being used to transport the captured colonists to the ship." She reported.

"Yeah, I kind of figured." John replied. "We've been moving the fight all along their transport pod lines to draw the Collectors off of the pods, as well. When the Alliance gets here, they can crack the pods all open."

"How many estimated kills, so far?" She asked.

"We're up to about forty, from what I can tell." He answered. She heard the sound of gunfire and those beams the Collectors used on the comms line. "The damn things keep swarming, so we have to keep moving every minute or so. We've got a group of at least sixty we're maneuvering around to keep from overwhelming us."

"Keep me updated." Jane ordered him.

"You got it." He replied.

"What can you do with the pods, Mordin?" Jane asked.

"Film over the pod is hardened." He replied, tapping on the nearly black substance, "But not completely. Suggests that the pod goes through a cycle where it becomes more operational as time goes by."

"Operational towards what?" Shepard wondered.

"Unable to tell." Mordin answered, looking around the pod. "Small entrance at the base of the pod may mean that pods only temporarily supposed to be outside ship."

"Life support systems?" Garrus asked from behind her.

"None visible." Mordin replied instantly. "Undoubtedly stasis applied by seekers keep colonists alive until probable death."

"Probable death?" Jane repeated, arching an eyebrow.

"Most likely answer." Mordin supplied. "Collectors have no need of slave labor. No abducted humans are being returned or escaping. Suggests that they are dying for some purpose."

"How do we open these pods?" Jane asked.

"No control switch, no way to lever it up." Mordin started, "Technical abilities probably preferable, will attempt-"

"Allow me, Doctor." Garrus replied, gently edging the salarian doctor out of the way.

"Know technical method to-" Mordin started to ask, until Garrus slammed the butt of his rifle into the substance at about the midpoint of the film. There was an audible _crack _and lines began to spider through it. With another strike, he beat a hole into the film and started to tear more pieces off with his claws.

"Think harder, not smarter, doctor." Garrus answered, amused, as he started to pry the film off to reveal a younger woman in engineering garb.

"Pretty sure that's not how it goes." Jane pointed out.

"Then you've all been saying it wrong." Garrus informed her, smiling at the Spectre.

They gazed at each other for a moment and Jane felt compelled to keep the conversation going.

"Maybe you should-"

"Suggest that sexual tensions be directed elsewhere in combat situation." Mordin said immediately. Jane looked over to find him frowning at them.

"We're not-"

They were cut off by a few beams that narrowly missed all of them. Jane moved to the side, dodging behind a pillar. She scooted around it, to find a Collector right in her face. She started to bring her Vindicator's stock up to its face when the triangular head exploded in a shower of gore.

"Are you going to fight, Commander?" Garrus asked over her comms unit, "Or should I just shoot at the ship until I hit something important?"

"Screw you, Vakarian." Jane answered with a grin as she put a three-round burst into the torso of a Collector that tried to join the fray. She looked to her left to find Mordin typing away on his omni-tool.

"No thanks." He replied as she put another string of rounds through a Collector's head. "You humans are too squishy and soft."

"I thought men of all species liked squishy and soft!" Jane yelled, sarcastically outraged.

"Uh...it's not that..." Garrus replied awkwardly, clearly misinterpreting her fake anger. "I don't-"

"Relax, Garrus." She ordered him as the last Collector fell. "I'm just messing with you."

He went silent as the last Collector fell and they moved forward. They slipped between two walls and advanced down the unoccupied lane. She heard the battle nearing, the sounds slightly distressing. She had no doubt that, after such a long (and more importantly, constant) engagement, that the assault team was running low on ammo.

She could hear it, with the gunfire becoming more and more sporadic.

"How are you holding up on ammo?" Jane asked over the comm line.

"Pretty terrible." He said, "We're going to be picking up their weapons when we can, to give us some more flexibility."

She heard another beam over their line and he went silent. She felt a twinge of worry, until his voice came right back again.

"We've got about forty of them left." He reported, "Give us another half hour and we may be able to finish them."

Jane remembered that her brother was easily one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy. Tali was certainly a fighter and Grunt was the perfect krogan. It was probably why John was so nonchalant about three people killing close to (if not more) than a hundred Collectors.

The next skirmish held a surprise for them. As they engaged a trio of Collectors, one suddenly levitated from the ground, glowing gold from under its chitinous plates.

"What the hell?" Jane wondered as the Collector to its left fell.

_**"ASSUMING CONTROL."**_

The voice was familiar, one that Jane could place in each and every nightmare she had since speaking to Sovereign.

She was hearing the voice of a Reaper.

"Was that a Reaper!?" She heard Garrus exclaim distantly.

She and Garrus were both shocked, unable to even muster up the mental forititude to fire until Mordin Solus, unaware of the implications, poured fire from his Tempest onto the Collector.

They were both shaken out of their stupor and opened fire on the Collector.

_**"WE ARE HARBINGER."**_

The Collector pushed its arm out and an undulating black ball wreathed in squirming golden light started towards them. The ball moved slowly, but Jane didn't sidestep far enough, only realizing too late that the ball was tracking her movements.

She felt something slam into her, along with a small _beep _before there was a small detonation. She looked up to see Mordin raising his SMG as his omni-tool glowed. He fired a string of rounds as she pushed herself off the ground, Vindicator coming up to pour three-round bursts into the possessed trooper.

It fell with a groan, leaving the field devoid of living enemies.

"Okay." Garrus started, "What the hell was that?"

"Would assume remote control." Mordin answered.

"Great." Jane muttered. "Hey, John, we've got a Reaper here taking over troops remotely."

"Is that what those were?" He asked. "And did you say 'Reaper'?"

"Yeah." She answered as they moved into the next area, "Harbinger was the name it gave."

"Shit." He muttered. "Well, we'll keep on pushing on as normal. It dies like anything else."

"Affirmative."

They moved towards the core of the colony, where the batteries were, coming across relatively light resistance until they were directly outside the complex where the batteries were located.

"Be ready for anything." Jane warned Mordin and Garrus.

Mordin opened the door and they were faced to a walled-in plaza, at the center of which rested the massive guns and gun controls. They crept towards it, weapons out.

"EDI." Jane started, "What are we going to need to do?"

"I'll interface with them and bring them online." EDI assured her, "I'll upload into your omni-tool, I just need you to bring me there."

"Will do."

They were nearly there when something new came out from behind one of the panels.

The _thing _was similar-looking to a husk, but there was some sort of massive blue growth on its back that forced it to hunch over. Jane could see some sort of long cannon on its arm that Jane really didn't like the look of. It let out a rattling groan and something flashed blue from the end of the cannon.

Jane didn't have time to think, diving behind a low platform as biotic force tore up the ground in a straight line from the cannon. She heard Garrus and Mordin return fire and popped up from behind cover to add her own to the fray.

The shooting husk seemed to positively soak in the rounds as he wheeled to face Jane, who immediately skirted away diagonally and behind some supply crates as the ground began to explode nearby. She was close enough now that she was able to switch to her Katana shotgun. She flipped around the crates and fired four shells into the creature before it finally fell.

"That was obnoxious." Garrus grunted. "I'd call it a Scion. Reminds me of the old human armored vehicles I saw in vids of the First Contact War. Had a cannon that did damage like this."

"Sounds good." Jane muttered as she approached the console. She started to type in short commands on her omni-tool, then on the console, to enable them both to interact with each other.

"I'm in." EDI reported. "Starting the guns now. This will take an estimated three minutes and twenty-two seconds."

"Thanks." Jane answered, "Anything else?"

"I would suggest you prepare." The cool, artificial voice advised. "There is something headed your way."

They all heard the words and all moved in behind cover. There was a small whirring sound that was audbile to all in the plaza, causing them to glance around and catch sight of the incoming monstrosity.

It was hovering about eight feet off the ground, its head similar to the shape of the Collectors' heads, though much wider. Four spindly legs hung down from its levitating body and at the bottom of its head were what looked uncomfortably like a cluster of husk heads. Four shining blue eyes gleamed out from the front of the head.

"Strange." Was all Mordin said. Jane stopped staring at the thing and opened fire.

Instantly, the blue eyes went bright and Jane got an uneasy feeling as the eyes flashed on her. She dashed away from cover, to find a couple of beams bisecting the air in front of her. She looked to the right to see more Collector troopers joining the fight. The floating monstrosity was shooting blue lasers straight through the air at her.

"Garrus!" She yelled over the line as she ran, "Put fire down on the troopers! Mordin, I'm going to drop its barriers, then I want you to start burning through its armor with an incineration program."

**_"IF I MUST TEAR YOU APART, I WILL."_ **Came a voice from the other end of the plaza.

She was surprised when those pale yellow beams flashed to her left, cutting down a couple of troopers. Jane slid in behind a loading vehicle and looked over to see John, Tali and Grunt atop one of the units, firing the Collectors' own weapons at the floating abomination.

"John!" She yelled in delight. She turned to find the thing slamming itself into the ground. She could see it recharging its barriers, but they'd managed ot get some damage in regardless.

"Though we'd lend a hand!" John said. "You get in way over your head, sister."

She was about to say something when a group of husks moved in from her left. She was pinned by the still-approaching abomination, while Garrus worked on the groups. She could hear Mordin's SMG and figured he must've been forced to switch targets.

"Give her some help, Grunt." John ordered.

A bellowing roar shook the plaza as Grunt jumped to the ground and sprinted towards, throwing himself into the husks and crushing two of them on impact. Jane heard laughter from the krogan and the chattering of an unknown Avenger assault rifle joining the gunfire from across the plaza.

"I'd save the day," Garrus assured her over the comms line, "But I'm neck deep in troopers over here."

Confident that Grunt would be able to handle the husks, Jane moved around the corner and started firing at the thing, which had started to edge around her cover. She felt a little tinge of desperation behind her firing, until Tali and John leveled their weapons at the monster and started firing. Between the three of them, they were able to bring the disgusting floating horror down in a blaze of blue light.

She moved around the area after that, mopping up what she could until EDI reported in.

"I have control." EDI informed her.

Jane heard the deafening blasts of the guns above her as they rounded on the Collector ship in the distance and began to fire. Jane moved over behind a stack of tires to find herself sharing it with a very familiar woman.

"Williams?" Jane wondered aloud, drawing the woman's attention.

Ashley Williams looked pretty much the same as when Jane had last seen her. Her raven-colored hair was tied up in a bun on the back of her head and her tanned skin seemed to glisten with sweat. Almond-shaped brown eyes regarded Jane with surprise, though not quite enough that Jane didn't realize that Ashley had known she was alive.

The woman had certainly stayed in shape, though. She looked as slim as ever, with a build that might even make Miranda pause.

"Commander?" She muttered.

They were distracted when the ground started to rumble beneath them. They all turned to find the Collector ship taking off, the blasts from its engines scorching the ground beneath it. It lifted into the air slowly, then gained speed and disappeared.

Jane sighed in relief as sporadic gunfire from the rest of the group informed her that the mess was being cleaned up. She looked at Ashley and realized she didn't quite feel like dealing with the woman. Jane had never liked the Marine, who had been far too quick (especially given all they'd been through) to treat the non-humans on the Normandy with disrespect and hostility. It was an intolerance that Jane and John bitterly tolerated (as it was the woman's right), but had zero respect for.

"John!" Jane yelled, coming out from behind cover. She saw her brother approaching her position, a small smile on the stoic man's face. "You glorious asshole."

She slapped him on the back and smiled as the rest of the group joined them.

"Where the hell were you, Garrus?" John taunted. "I wasn't aware turians allowed nap-time in the military"

"Covering Jane and enjoying the view, of course." Garrus replied, sounding smug. Jane didn't know whether she wanted to kick him or thank him.

"Enjoying the view?" John repeated, looking mightily amused.

Jane watched with pleasure as Garrus' face fell and he realized what he'd just insinuated.

"I didn't mean it like that." He assured Jane, his voice frantic, "I just meant-"

"Oh my God..." They all heard a voice cut in. Jane turned to find Ashley there, her hands over her mouth as she stared at John in something approaching horror. "What the hell did they do to you?"

"Ashley?" Tali wondered. The woman shot her an unreadable look before looking back at John.

"I can barely tell that it's you anymore, Shepard." Ashley said, "You're...you're..."

"Still an ass-kicking machine?" Garrus filled in for her.

"Who the hell is this?" Grunt wondered, looking at the Alliance woman curiously.

"A monster." Ashley finished quietly, wide eyes still on John.

Jane turned to her brother, expecting to see anger on his face. She was surprised, then, to find John looking somewhat taken aback, almost ashamed. It was an emotion that didn't slip past Jane, Garrus or Tali.

"You bosh'tet, I'll-" Tali muttered, starting forward. Jane edged to the side, cutting Tali's approach off. Ashley's eyes had widened and her hand had (more than likely subconsciously) gone for her Avenger, but she regained her composure as she looked at Jane.

"I can't believe you people are in with Cerberus." Ashley said, looking at Jane. "How dare you-"

Jane felt anger starting to overtake her. Usually, she had what Garrus had once called 'damnable patience and tolerance', but this woman had long worked with her and to hear her talk it was like she didn't remember the hell they'd been through. Worse, her words were cutting into John far more than Jane was willing to tolerate.

"Oh, yeah." Jane sniped back, her voice caustic, "Take _that _tone, admitted racist."

"I-"

"I do recall you saying that you didn't want me near the Mako because, quote: 'He might try to sabotage it to get us back for the War'."

"And multiple times refused to allow me near anything valuable." Tali reminded her, the quarian woman's arms crossed. Even behind the mask, Jane could see the quarian woman's silvery eyes narrowed in anger. "Loudly and in front of everyone."

"Look." Ashley finally said, throwing her hands up in frustration, "I'm not here to argue with you. Alliance command told me you'd be down here and that Cerberus could be behind it. Now I see your true colors."

"Oh, sure." Tali answered from Jane's left. "Two out of our visible team are humans and she accuses us of being aligned with racists."

"Obviously you attacked-" Ashley started, but Jane was surprised to hear John cut her off.

"That doesn't even make sense, Williams." John replied. "You saw and killed some of the Collectors that _we were fighting _and if we really attacked the colony, we would've just killed you outright."

"We still can." Grunt pointed out. "Just saying, I really don't like her."

"Irrational, at best." Mordin agreed.

"I need to report back to Alliance Command." Ashley replied staunchly, refusing to give up. "We'll see if they believe your story."

"We'll be calling in Hackett." Jane answered. "He'll be coordinating the rescue efforts."

"Good." She said, "I need to process all this. You and whatever that freak is over there-"

That was it. While Jane had never seen eye-to-eye with the woman, she'd been solid under combat and had still been willing to work with the aliens in tight situations. Jane had tolerated her, no matter how disgusted she'd been by the woman's discrimination of the non-human species aboard the Normandy. Her attitude now was beyond belief.

Worse, every word she directed at her brother was visibly hurting the man, who Jane could tell was very insecure about whatever had been done to him, no matter how uncaring he pretended to be. Ashley had unintentionally picked the perfect way to humiliate him and Jane wasn't going to have it. As cruel as John could sometimes be, he would never lay hands on a woman. Neither would Garrus, who was more of a gentleman than he let on.

Jane didn't have that problem.

Jane stepped forward in a flash of rage and swung her elbow up, the stock of the Vindicator going with it. Ashley tried to flinch away, but she wasn't quite fast enough. The weapon's end struck her directly below the chin with a loud _crack. _Ashley's head snapped back and she fell to the ground on her back, unconscious.

"What a bitch." Tali muttered in annoyance.

"Shattered jaw." Mordin observed. "Will need to recover, but still perfectly healthy otherwise."

"John." Jane called to her brother. The man looked highly unsettled by the way Ashley had spoken of him. Jane knew he didn't care for Ashley in any other world outside a professional one, but he'd still trusted her. She'd just betrayed that and used the worst possible insults she could have to get under his skin. He needed routine and she knew it. "Call Admiral Hackett and tell him we're clear. I'll radio the Normandy and get us out of here."

"Yeah." John muttered as they started to walk away.

Jane saw Garrus look back at the slowly stirring figure on the ground as they passed out of the plaza. He looked at Jane and she noticed his mandibles raised in something approximating a grin.

"You know," He muttered. "You keep that up and there just might be some hope for you."


	25. Chapter 25

_**Cerberus Operative Miranda Lawson - Normandy SR-2**_

This time, Miranda had decided to do a little bit of visiting around on her own after the mission on Horizon. She was adverse to it and she did not enjoy a second of it, but she'd be lying if she said it wasn't useful in gauging the mood and combat readiness of her people. She was in charge of them and as SSgt Shepard had rightly said, that meant she had to take care of them.

Something was wrong with the Marine ever since Horizon, though Miranda couldn't quite place it. He seemed entirely too down on himself. Miranda had heard what Ashley Williams had said to him during Horizon and felt no small amount of shame in herself for being a very large part of why John was the way he was.

She'd had her reservations before, of course. Even during the project, there had been a couple of times where she'd broken just a bit. Now, one of the strongest men she'd ever met was facing personal torment due to what she had done to him. Even as cold as she could be, it was something she was having a little bit of trouble coping with.

Her first stop was down to the bottom of the ship to talk with the person she knew she'd have the biggest issue with. Jack.

She knew the Shepards were in conference with The Illusive Man and wouldn't be able to intervene between her and the biotic psychopath. As much as the perfect Cerberus Operative hated to admit it, Jack could probably overpower her in biotics, but Miranda may very well have the edge in hand-to-hand. So a conflict between the two could have any number of unpleasant outcomes for both of them.

Miranda moved into the small space under the core and wasn't too surprised when Jack spoke from next to her.

"Well." Jack said, her voice positively dripping with the rather unique mixture of amusement and disgust, "The Cerberus cheerleader has come down to my lair. Whatever could she want?"

"I came down to check on your well-being, Jack." Miranda answered, edging to the side and leaning up against a strut in an attempt to keep her back to a wall. She didn't want the convict to get in behind her. "I do it every so often."

"Fuck well-being." Jack said, finally moving into the crimson light of the small space. Miranda eyed the tattooed woman warily, but otherwise made no move. "You came down here to spy on me, see what I've learned about your precious organization."

"No." Miranda answered, glad she wasn't having to be deceptive, thus far. Even before her multiple talks with John about leadership, she knew that deception could come back and quickly bite her in the ass. She decided to show a little weakness in front of the convict, in a bid to earn her trust. "I'm learning to actually check up on my crew. Staff Sergeant Shepard has told me I don't interconnect with my people enough and it could have an impact on mission readiness. Since he's led more units into combat than our combined kill count, I decided he probably knows better than I on that subject."

"So what's my readiness?" Jack leered, the hostile tone somewhat dimmed but not completely gone. She took a seat on a container, her body tensed in preparation to spring, if need be. "Insane but manageable? Still in good enough condition to ship right back to your buddies when the Collectors are dead? Assuming you get past the Shepards, of course."

"I don't understand your dislike of me." Miranda answered. "I understand your hatred of Cerberus. What was done to you was a mistake and ethically disgusting, even to me. I had no hand in what happened to you and have told you on multiple occasions that I found it terrible."

"Shit, I don't know." Jack started, narrowing her heavily-lidded eyes at the Operative. "Maybe it's your undying love to that fucking terrorist organization. At least Jacob's only-"

"Don't talk about Jacob." Miranda nearly hissed, feeling a small surge of anger rising.

"Ohhhh." Jack cooed in delight. "Got a bit of a crush on your underling, huh?"

Miranda _really _didn't want to pursue that particular vein of conversation and she got the sense she wasn't getting anywhere. She decided that the best thing to do would be to lay her cards on the table with the woman and give her time and space to think about it. It was something John had told her was one of the best ways to mend a bad issue.

"Jack." Miranda said, "I'm sorry about what they did to you. I don't approve of it. Cerberus has done some great things for me and have earned my appreciation for it, at least. I'm sorry you feel the way you do, but I hold no ill-will towards you, personally. I hope we can establish some sort of middle-ground somewhere along the way and establish at least a civil relationship."

She turned to leave, but Jack wasn't content to let her go without having the last word.

"Hey." She called out, hostility replaced with confusion and mistrust. Miranda turned to the woman. "Why the fuck do you care?"

Miranda gazed at the woman for a moment before answering.

"You're not the only one who had people toying with your genetics and controlling you as a child, Jack." She answered quietly, before finishing her trip out of there. The silence behind her was thick as she moved up the stairs and on to her next crew member.

As far as she could tell, Tali and Garrus were well taken care of by John and Jane. The four of them had history, which meant that Miranda didn't particularly need (or want) to interfere in their lives to know how they were doing. Zaeed and Kasumi were paid and as such, they were as stable an element as there was on the ship. It meant she didn't really need to check in on them, either.

She did want to check in on Grunt. So after a brief conversation to make sure everything was alright with Ken and Gabby, she moved to the cargo bay.

From what John had told her, though Grunt was inherently violent, he wasn't hostile to any of the crew. He considered them his _krant, _which was as close to a family as he was going to have. On some level, Miranda regarded him the same way she imagined a woman would regard her child. Grunt had been born onto their ship and had no context for the galaxy outside of their involvement. So they had an additional responsibility.

_Plus, _Miranda thought to herself, _Maybe I think of him as a child because-_

She cut herself off from that bitter subject. Whatever genetic tinkering her father had done had rendered her nearly barren. She'd been involved with several men in an attempt to overcome it because nothing would give her more pleasure than raising a child on her own and becoming the parent she never had. Nothing had ever happened, though, to her eternal heartbreak.

She entered the small cargo bay to find Grunt doing something with his back to her. When she entered, he whipped around and something flew from his hand, landing at her feet.

"Don't-" the big krogan started, but it was too late. Miranda picked up the small object off the floor and was surprised to find herself holding onto a krogan action figure. She straightened in surprise, looking at Grunt with a raised eyebrow.

"I was coming up with battle strategies." He immediately defended himself, sounding highly offended.

"Don't worry, Grunt." Miranda answered in amusement, spotting five more action figures (one of them a Commander Shepard action figure) on top of the crate where he'd been playing. "I'm not going to tell anyone."

"Thanks." He muttered as she tossed the action figure back to him. He caught it and looked up at her. "So what do you want?"

"Just wanted to check in on you, Grunt." Miranda said, "Staff Sergeant Shepard told me you did a really good job on Horizon."

The big krogan grinned, much to Miranda's pleasure.

_He really is just like a child._

"Besides the playing," Grunt said, "I've been reading up on krogan history, trying to find something to care about."

"Something to care about?" Miranda asked in confusion, stepping to the side and seating herself on a cargo box. "What do you mean?"

"When I was created," Grunt said, "I was created with a lot of knowledge, but there is no context. Like holding a book in front of a child and telling them to remember words. No reason to care about them."

Miranda saw what he meant and saw an opportunity to really lend something to him that he could use.

"Maybe you should separate yourself from the history." Miranda said, earning herself a warning look from Grunt, "Not forget it, but the krogan culture had become so steeped in old rages and grudges that the galaxy is willing to let them die because of it. Grunt, you have a unique opportunity to look on the galaxy without krogan influence and form judgements and opinions for yourself."

Grunt watched her for a moment, before looking down at the floor in thought.

"You mean I should decide for myself." He grunted, pondering the thought. "Be a krogan, but let species and people earn my own animosity, instead of the krogan's."

"Who know, Grunt." Miranda said, "You just might learn things that no other krogan is willing to."

"I'll..I'll think about it." Grunt replied quietly.

"Great." Miranda answered with a smile, in spite of herself. "I need to keep on my tour of the ship. We'll talk later."

The big krogan just grunted in acknowledgement, turning back to his action figures. Miranda stayed there for a moment, feeling something that she usually only felt with the successful completion of a mission or project. She felt satisfied, like she'd done something important. It was a good feeling, one that she didn't get enough of.

She took the elevator to the next deck and decided to talk to Karen. She was about to enter the Med-Bay, when she heard someone talking.

"-n't know why you keep her in charge." She heard the flanged voice of Garrus observing. Miranda felt the smallest hint of anger, but let it subside. She was more interested in hearing what the Commander had to say.

"She may be writing reports to the Illusive Man," Commander Shepard answered, the woman's voice sounding contemplative, "But her heart's in the right place. Plus, ever since getting some pointers from John, she's pretty solid as a leader. She's not quite as capable or skilled in leading people as John and I-"

Miranda didn't feel offended by the observation. John was the most inspiring Marine she'd ever met and despite her generally ambivalent nature, Jane was the best leader and saboteur she'd ever known. To be even in the same league of either one would be the highest of praise.

"But still, she's learning and she's becoming a good part of the team" Shepard answered. "We can't just do this with me, you, John and Tali."

"I know," Garrus answered, "But you know who she represen-"

"Oh Garrus." Karen replied, the older doctor sounding amused, "I bet you're just jealous that you're not working directly under the Commander."

Both the women started cackling and Miranda heard Garrus sputtering to defend himself. Deciding it was the best time to get in there and make herself known, Miranda opened the door.

All eyes shifted to her, but the laughter continued for a bit. Jane and Karen both looked incredibly amused as an embarrassed-looking Garrus glared at the both of them with no small amount of fondness in those blue eyes.

When the laughter died down, Miranda interjected.

"I was coming to check on the doctor," Miranda started, "Didn't expect to see you all. Are you wounded?"

"No." Garrus replied. His tone was friendly, at the least. Miranda didn't actually think he was bothered by her, but rather who she reported to. "Karen was just telling some stories about the First Contact War and we got a little sidetracked."

"Back in my day." Karen said, smiling at Jane and Garrus, "The idea of a human and a turian together was absurd."

Miranda felt an admittedly smug satisfaction when she watched Jane frown and Garrus shake his head.

_They're both too thick. _Miranda thought to herself. They both obviously cared about each other, their appearances merely superficial to the other. She got the sense, though, that Jane was holding something against Garrus. It wasn't anger, but Miranda would approximate it to disappointment.

"Karen," Jane pointed out, "I know we joke, but-"

"Sure, whatever." Karen answered, waving her hand dismissively. Miranda couldn't help but catch the slightest look of defeat in Garrus' eyes.

"Too bad John can't come along for this next mission." Garrus said. "I could use him there."

"Tali's having her own problems, Garrus." Jane shrugged.

"What's wrong with Tali?" Miranda asked, surprised. The quarian woman had warmed up to her in the slightest. She hadn't thought Tali would be a good component on the team, but Miranda's doubts were settled after seeing Tali in combat. The woman was unshakable and though she was adorably awkward in conversation, she was seasoned under fire.

Plus, ever since Miranda had made it plain with inaction that she had no designs on the clearly uninterested SSgt, Tali had also dialed down her dislike of the Cerberus Operative. While Tali would outright deny how she felt about John, Miranda has seen the looks she gave him when the Marine wasn't looking. Especially since John started toning down his ardent professionalism.

"Tali's being tried for treason on the Flotilla." Jane answered. "That's why we're headed out that way."

Miranda was shocked at the news. She couldn't honestly even comprehend a moment where the girl had been anything besides steadfastly devoted to her people.

"What's the punishment for that?" Miranda wondered. "Death?"

Karen scoffed, the sound familiar from her.

"Not unless they want John, Kasumi and Grunt to go on a rampage and destroy half the Flotilla." Karen answered. "They're going, too."

"And if they try to imprison them all," Garrus growled, the turian looking some thing close to livid. It was a somewhat intimidating feature, for him. Even Miranda nearly backed up a step, "They'll have to deal with me."

"And me." Jane agreed.

For the first time in a long time, Miranda felt a very unfamiliar loneliness. She silently pondered if there'd been any moment in her life where she'd had friends that would come to her rescue as quickly and angrily as Jane and Garrus would. She had always worked alone, but she didn't pretend that it didn't get lonely.

_I suppose Jacob would come rescue me. _She ventured, _But still..._

"I certainly won't be letting them take our crew away, either." Miranda ventured. She noticed some sort of emotion in Jane's eyes when the woman looked at her, but Miranda was unable to place it.

"It's moot point, anyways." Karen replied. "From what I heard of the Flotilla, she'll be banished if she's found guilty. Plus, Tali's and Admiral's daughter. The rampaging crew aside, it would be a _very _unwise move to try to lock her up."

"Miranda." Jane started, looking at the woman, "Would you like to help Garrus and I?"

"I would, Commander." She answered, "But I want to handle some business with Jacob while you and Garrus handle the Citadel."

"Business?" Garrus wondered, cocking his head. She noticed anger in his eyes, undoubtedly stemming from her misunderstood refusal to go with him on a personally important mission.

"I've intercepted a beacon from an uncharted world." Miranda answered. "It's from the same ship that his father commanded. It's been presumed destroyed for the last decade."

"Interesting." Jane replied, scratching at her chin idly. "Take Jack with you. She needs to get used to the two of you."

Miranda didn't feel like bringing up the conversation they'd just had, so she stayed silent.

"Will do, Commander." She answered. "That'll only leave Zaeed and Mordin for you two."

"That'll be fine." Jane answered with a shrug, "We're going to shake down a criminal and then dealing with Sidonis, it shouldn't be too hectic."

Miranda noticed that Jane hadn't explicitly stated that they'd be killing Sidonis. The man had betrayed Garrus' squad and led to the death of some pretty good men, by Miranda's approximation. She didn't know what Jane intended when they got to the Citadel, but she hoped it didn't drive a wedge in between anyone.

"I've got to get up to the next deck." Miranda told them, "Good luck on your mission, Vakarian."

"Yeah." He muttered, "Tell Jacob I said 'Good luck', as well."

"I will." She promised, before retreating from the Med Bay. She headed up to the next deck and found Mordin busily working at his desk.

"What are you working on?" She asked. Privately, she envied the scientist. She had thought she was a genius, but even she wasn't as good as Mordin, though his science lay in a different field. He'd also earned some points with her after showing appreciation towards her work in John and Jane Shepard.

"Working on bacteria culture." He replied quickly, glancing up at her. Miranda was still getting used to the nuances of Mordin's rapid-fire and broken speech. "Tapped for mission, but want to finish this. Less intelligence and planning involved in bacteria. Unless bacteria very intelligent and toying with me. Hmm...tests."

He bent back down to the rectangular petri dish, but Miranda edged over to levy his attention.

"Doctor Solus." She started, attracting his attention again, "I just want to get an idea of where your thoughts are at."

"Thoughts with tests, of course." He said, then seemed to slump a bit. "Also thinking of pride in being on this mission."

"Oh?" Miranda asked, surprised. "Pride?"

"Yes." He nodded. He seemed surprised that she'd asked for clarification. "Working to save galaxy. Have worked to save galaxy before, in form of Genophage. Despite correctness of work, still required rationalization, questionable morals and soul searching after seeing thousands of dead krogan young. This mission much simpler."

"But there's not as much science and research involved in this mission." Miranda argued.

"Not yet." He agreed, nodding. "Have been studying bodies of Collectors and evidence on Horizon. Interesting theories. When we head to Collector base, likely more research will be found."

Miranda gave him that one. He would not only be able to deconstruct the Collectors for them, but he could have a use in the long-term.

"But interest not so much in science." He continued, the sentiment surprising Miranda. "Interest in doing good. Would prefer to live my last decade enjoying art, music and poetry, rather than in death and killing. In human years, I would be one-hundred and twenty years old. Covert missions and unethical science no longer desirable."

Miranda was surprised to hear the old salarian's views so closely coinciding with hers'. Though she had now come to live with some of the more questionable work she'd done (especially given what she'd almost done to John when she was rebuilding him), she didn't pretend that she and Cerberus were ethically clean. Even with all the resources and opportunities Cerberus had given her, she also felt a level of regret that her research and projects weren't more morally sound.

"I...understand where you're coming from, Doctor." Miranda confessed, feeling an urge to share her similar experiences with the scientist. "I had a lot of projects like that, myself. Staff Sergeant Shepard was like that. I...am the result of genetic manipulation and John was the first time I'd ever manipulated genes like that. Like what had been done to me. I did something that I personally found reprehensible in order to earn the Illusive Man's favor."

"Understandable emotions." Mordin agreed, but Miranda wasn't finished. Now that she was talking about it, she felt she had to finish the story.

"One night, while working on the project, I got very drunk." She said, thinking about that night. "I'd say it was the moment I hit the breaking point. You can't tell the Staff Sergeant or his sister about this, by the way. I sent a surprisingly coherent message to the Illusive Man, asking him if I could install a control chip. I didn't want to have to look John in the face and explain what I did."

She trailed off, lost in the memory, but Mordin brought her back to task.

"What happened?" He wondered.

"He denied it, thankfully." Miranda answered, "But I still hate myself for suggesting it. Privately, I can barely stand to look at him anymore. Especially after what Williams said about it had such a harsh effect on him."

Miranda felt her mood slipping as she thought about it, but she rallied and managed to continue.

"Still," She said, "It's been good to get out and fight the bad guys. I don't have to worry about the ethical ramifications, I merely have to point in the right direction and shoot."

"An honor to be here." Mordin agreed, before turning back to his bacteria. "Will respect wish to keep conversation private."

Miranda flashed him a small smile before exiting out and heading for Joker. She had a brief conversation with Yeoman Chambers, who assured her that everybody was still alright and there were no outstanding issues to report.

When she reached the cockpit, she found Joker (unsurprisingly) arguing with EDI.

"Just because you've got dirt on me-" He was saying.

"Correction:" EDI replied, the voice seeming almost smug as the blue projected sphere lit up brighter, "I have your extranet bookmarks, which are different from-"

"Yeah," Joker continued, unaware of Miranda's presence, "I know what it means, thanks. Are you really that upset about me changing your hologram?"

"AI's are not designed to be sexy, Lieutenant." EDI pointed out. Miranda had to stifle a laugh, but thankfully EDI acknowledged her presence. "Hello, Operative Lawson."

Joker straightened up in his chair and turned to the woman, looking very guilty.

"Joker." She started, trying her best not to smile. She failed, however, letting one slip through. To her relief, Joker grinned.

"Oh my God." He said in mock wonder, "It _does_ have emotions."

"Just wanted to check up on you, Joker." Miranda said, thankful that this time was at least a little more civil than the last. "I'm touring the whole ship, since they probably need it after Horizon."

"Yeah." Joker muttered, uncharacteristically serious. "I feel bad for John."

"I only regret I couldn't hit the bitch myself." Miranda agreed.

"Really?" Joker asked, surprised.

"Yeah." Miranda answered with a shrug. "He's doing his job and helped save thousands of lives on Horizon. He doesn't deserve that. She's lucky that the Commander didn't do worse to her."

She was surprised to find that every word of that had been honest.

"Well," Joker conceded, "You don't mess with either of the Shepards and expect to survive their sibling's reprisal. Ash got off lightly because Jane actually knows her. Even as impossibly nice as Jane can be, she might've just outright shot anyone else."

"That is illogical." EDI pointed out. "She could've very well lose her Spectre status with that kind of action."

"Nobody really updated you on human emotions, did they?" Joker wondered, looking at EDI's holographic blue ball. "It's all data, data, blackmail Joker, data."

Miranda heard a soft chime on her omni-tool and looked down to see a message from Jacob. He wanted to see her and she knew what about.

"I gotta go see Jacob." She muttered.

"Yeah." Joker replied, "I got the updated trajectory. We'll be dropping John off at the Migrant Fleet, then Jane at the Citadel, then you at the site. We don't want to leave you stranded on an uncharted planet, so I'll be loitering there until you finish your business."

"Appreciate it." Miranda acknowledged. She started to leave when Joker called her back. "Yeah?"

"You're much better, like this." He commented, giving her an approving nod. "Still, don't change too much. That catsuit needs to stay where it is."

Despite the obvious harassment at the end, Miranda couldn't help but let another small smile slip through to her frigid exterior. She felt, for once, like she was actually part of a team, rather than in charge of one. She supposed a lot of it had to do with the skill level of the Normandy crew. They were equal (some more so) than her.

As she walked back to the armory, she thought about that. Even aside from the Shepards, there were people that outclassed her in combat skills. Zaeed and Garrus, for example. Mordin was a better scientist than her, Jack had her outclassed in biotics while Tali and Kasumi could run circles around her in tech skills. As such, she didn't feel as much need to involve herself in their business and they didn't feel particularly threatened by her mere presence.

She walked into the armor and was surprised to find Jacob at the armory table but not actually working on weapons. He was clenching onto the table tightly and he looked utterly tense.

"Did you send me that?" He asked without preamble, fixing her with an intense gaze.

"Yes." Miranda answered, crossing her arms. "I found out about it through my Alliance sources and thought you deserved to know."

"Thanks, I guess." He muttered. "What's our itinerary?"

"We're going to drop John, Tali, Grunt and Kasumi off at the Migrant Fleet." She answered, "Then Jane, Garrus and Mordin are hitting the Citadel. Joker will take us and Jack to the planet and loiter there until we're done, then we'll scoop up everybody else."

"Jack?" Jacob wondered, looking back down at the table, "She's not going to like that."

"It wasn't my call." Miranda explained.

Jacob looked back up at her.

"Are you doing this because-"

"No." Miranda answered, feeling slightly wary of the subject they were encroaching on.

"Do you ever think about-"

"Yes." She answered, unable to hold his gaze as she stared down at the floor guiltily. This conversation had been a long time coming, no matter how hard either of them tried to avoid it. "I always wonder what could've been. You deserve a better woman than me, Jacob. You deserve a woman who isn't constantly wandering around the murky side of morality and I know you want to be a father. You can't have any of those with me."

He approached her suddenly and she felt her gaze drawn to his. She wanted to close that gap, but for all her strength, she couldn't.

"Maybe you're just the woman I deserve." He reasoned. Miranda didn't stop him as he looped an arm around her waist. She felt her breath quicken and her heart rate skyrocket as he pulled her close and-

"Staff Sergeant." Joker's voice reported over the ship, "We got the Migrant Fleet in sight. You might want to get Tali and yourself up here."

That thoroughly spoiled the mood. Jacob heaved a small sigh and Miranda almost groaned as he let go of her.

"Work first." He grumbled.

Miranda was at a loss for words, amazed that she'd caved so easily. She had never denied the tension between her and Jacob, but she'd done her best to stay professional about it. She couldn't deny that she'd become really close to the man and she wanted him more than she cared to admit.

"I..." She said, having a very rare moment where she was lost for words, "I'll start getting ready."

_**For those who noticed I skipped out on a few characters, don't worry. The reason I did that (and these chapters, for that matter) is that they don't get as much face time as some of the others during missions.**_


	26. Chapter 26

_**Staff Sergeant John Shepard - Normandy SR-2**_

The trip out had been uneventful. Grunt had some minor scrapes and bruises that Chakwas had attended to while the rest of the crew had gotten some downtime. They'd given the Illusive Man a quick debrief then shoved off, headed for Illium.

Shortly thereafter, he'd gotten a message from Anderson that had been sent to both him and Jane. It had read:

_**John, Jane,**_

_**I wanted to keep you aware of the goings-on in the galaxy. Right now, we've got a Reaper out in the Terminus Systems somewhere that seems to be trying to start a war out there. Your presences are not required (And would honestly complicate things), so just know that I've got a team to deal with it. With luck, we'll be able to drag the Reaper to the Citadel once we take it out and get the Council on our side.**_

_**We've also been looking into alternative ways to jump through space and a confidential company is on the verge of a breakthrough. With this tech, we might be able to evacuate citizens to worlds not connected to Mass Relays. It'd greatly increase our flexibility when the Reapers finally decide to arrive.**_

_**Keep up the good work,  
Councilor Anderson  
Humanity Council Member  
Citadel**_

The news had been well-received by everybody on the ship. Though John hadn't ever heard of the team, Garrus and Tali had both known a couple of members on it and had assured him that they'd be able to take care of the Reaper wandering around the Terminus.

John had been working on the Engineering deck when Tali's omni-tool lit up orange. At first, he'd paid it no mind. They all typically sent messages to each other, professional or otherwise (Nearly always the former in John's case).

Plus, John's mind was elsewhere. He knew it had bothered Tali, Jane and Garrus, but he wanted quiet. He was still trying to process everything that Ashley had said.

He'd considered her a stalwart ally, about the closest thing he had to a friend. Not anymore.

John would never tell anyone, but he was _very _discontent with what had been done to him. The near-superhuman speed, strength and size was good, but he knew what he looked like. He was an ass-kicking machine, but he still had to get up and stare down his mutilated face in the mirror every morning. Every word Ashley had said regarding his appearance had cut into him until he'd felt so ashamed he'd wanted to slink away from the group.

Though the sudden (and very unexpected) violence from Jane had been satisfying. He knew why she'd done it and though he didn't need protection from the Alliance Marine, he still thoroughly appreciated the gesture.

Plus, there was something else that was bothering him and tearing at his core. He'd never seen the extreme of complete devotion of duty until Horizon. Ashley had said things and made assumptions that were (to put it lightly) impossible. All in the name of the Alliance Marines. What it came down to was...

_Have I become like that?_

Though he had mixed feelings on the Alliance, he knew that he was as professional as they came in every aspect of his life. Hearing Ash raving as her duty required had concerned him as to the very same devotion he held close.

He'd mulled over his thoughts on the crew several times after the mission and realized that if Ashley could almost (until Horizon) be considered a friend, then Tali and Garrus were the next closest thing.

He barely even registered the gasp from Tali, sparing her a downward glance to see the quarian woman clenching onto the console in front of her, taking slow and steady breaths.

He'd never seen her like this before. She was meek, awkward and blunt at the best of times. To see her completely floored, though, was out of character. One of the things he admired most about her was her ability to stay cool under nearly any kind of pressure.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"John." She whispered, invoking a small rush of adrenaline to hit him. He'd never heard his name used in that tone before, but he knew it well enough from others. It was a tone of danger, that there was a threat. He didn't know what kind, though. "They...the Admiralty Board..."

"What?" John asked again.

"They..." She turned to him and he saw those silvery moons watering under her mask. "The...the Admiralty Board wants to try me for treason."

John was very taken aback. He'd expected a whole host of things to come out of her mouth before that. Especially given how devoted she was to her people. He worked to find the right thing to say, but had none.

"Can they even do that?" He asked, finally settling on collecting information to figure out what had to be done.

"They do," Tali said, "But there are usually six Admirals judging. However, my father and Auntie Raan will have to recuse themselves, since they know me. Zuril is out on combat assignment, which is pretty typical for her. That leaves Xen, Koris and Gerrel."

"What are they charging you with?" John asked. Over Tali's shoulder, he saw Miranda talking to Ken and Gabby.

"I..." she tried to say, before being forced to take a few breaths, "I don't know. It didn't say. I need to get to the Flotilla and clear all this up, immediately."

John nodded and quickly started to type up a message to Jane when he was interrupted by a message from her.

_**John, **_it said, _**Garrus found the man who betrayed his squad. He'd really like our help.**_

John groaned and looked down at Tali, who was looking up at him curiously.

"What's wrong, John?" she asked.

"Garrus found Sidonis." He answered. "We're going to have to split the team."

_**Jane, **_John replied, _**Tali's being charged with treason and needs an immediate trip to the Migrant Fleet. I say we split up and take care of both of them.**_

There was another string of messages as John explained that he didn't know what she was being charged with and that he wasn't even needed for anything other than transporting her there.

"So we're on our own." John grunted.

"Awww." They heard a voice say behind them, "I can't go?"

They both spun to find empty air. John was confused for a moment, but Tali stepped forward and wrapped her arms around something and even seemed to squeeze a little.

"Please, Kasumi." Tali said as the lithe woman materialized in the empty air, "I need a good friend with me for this."

"I'd be more than happy to." She replied, the Japanese woman letting a small smile grace her hidden features.

"We'll take care of it, Bucket." John said quietly. "I'll get Jane to drop us off at the Migrant Fleet."

For once, Tali didn't seemed to be bothered by the nickname. She was wringing her hands in the most clear sign of anxiety that John had seen from her in a long time.

"Hey." He said softly, calling her attention. "It'll be alright. And they won't hurt you, no matter how bad things get. I'm thinking of bringing Grunt along for extra security."

"You think it'll be enough?" Tali asked. "We usually face banishment, but things do get a little too heated, sometimes."

"You kidding me?" Kasumi asked, "The big guy loves you."

"Grunt?" John asked, a little bit surprised. He didn't doubt it, though. He probably viewed Tali, complete with the awkwardness and social failings, as something close to an older sister.

"Grunt." Kasumi repeated, an odd inflection in the thief's tone, "Sure."

"So when will we get there?" Tali wondered.

"One hour, according to Joker." John answered.

"Good." Tali said. "And John?"

"Yes?" John asked, looking down at the engineer.

"Thank you."

"I don't want to lose you." John said with a shrug.

"You two are so stupid." Kasumi muttered, just barely within John's hearing.

_**This is happening about the same time as the last chapter. This is going to be a big Tali/John/Garrus/Jane thing the next set of chapters, so sorry for continuing on with the same people. After this will be Thane and Samara, however, so I'll be returning back to all the different perspectives.**_


	27. Chapter 27

_**Kasumi Goto - The Migrant Fleet: The Rayya**_

Kasumi stepped onto the deck of the quarian ship, feeling excitement running through her. She couldn't wait to see what she could pilfer around the area.

The ship was dimly lit and some sort of dust-looking haze was filling the air. All around, Kasumi saw quarians standing, their environmental suits showing a surprising amount of detail and variety.

The hallways were cramped as Tali led them to the center of the ship. When Kasumi had seen it, she'd been surprised by the size, but apparently it was one of the liveships, meant to sustain the population around it. Tali had told them there were a few others scattered around the Flotilla.

Everywhere they walked, quarians scrambled out of the way. Kasumi knew that between John and Grunt, they had enough intimidation to win a staring contest with a Thresher Maw. They also cast furtive glances at Tali, though nobody paid Kasumi any mind.

When they got to a pair of doors, Kasumi was surprised to find a quarian blocking it.

"Auntie Raan!" Tali exclaimed, running towards the quarian and throwing her arms around the woman.

"Tali." The older quarian greeted. Kasumi was surprised at how different her voice sounded. She heard that quarians had colonies before the geth drove them away, so she supposed that they could have entirely different accents and speech, "Good to see you."

"Nobody would tell me what I was specifically on trial for." Tali said. "What's going on, Raan?"

"Treason for sending geth components to the fleet." Raan answered instantly. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you earlier, but the Admirals didn't want you spreading it around."

"That's impossible." Tali answered, seeming taken aback to Kasumi. "Everything I sent to the Flotilla was deactivated."

"You actually sent back geth parts?" John wondered aloud, echoing Kasumi's sentiment. "Are you insane?"

"John, you know me." Tali pleaded. Even Kasumi could tell she was on the verge of crying. "I would never send back anything that could harm my people."

Kasmi watched as John levied a long look at her, before looking up at Raan.

"So where's her Captain?" He asked. "We need to go over a few things."

"There's...a slight problem." Raan answered. "Tali has been designated 'vas Normandy'."

"Wait, what?" Tali asked. Kasumi didn't get what the relevance was, but apparently John did.

"Wait," John said, "So you all stripped her designation to prevent her from being represented by her own people?"

"I didn't do anything." Raan replied. "Since I have a personal relationship with Tali, I had to recuse myself-"

"Well you didn't seem to be rushing to inform her." John pointed out tersely.. Kasumi could hear the building anger in his tone. "I should-"

"John." Tali pleaded quietly, "Please don't. Not with her."

Kasumi watched with amusement as the big man slowly reeled in his anger. It was rare to see him do it and Kasumi wasn't too surprised that Tali was able to make him. After a moment, John took a breath and looked at a visibly shaken Raan.

"So I'll be representing her, then?" John asked.

"Yes." Raan replied. "You are her acting Captain."

Kasumi felt a grin spread over her face and caught the stare of Grunt, who had the same slow smile on his face. Kasumi didn't doubt that he was thinking the same thing she was. She couldn't wait to see a pissed-off Shepard railing at the Admirals.

_Shep might just skip the foreplay and kill them. _Kasumi mused. _It'd serve them right, accusing my girl of treason. _

"You'll speak for me?" Tali wondered, turning a hopeful gaze to John.

"It would be an honor." He agreed with a nod.

"Our rules are simple." Raan said. "Speak the truth and nothing but. No tricks, no underhanded ploys."

"Let's go." John told the group at large.

Kasumi followed him into a very large, semi-circular room. Ahead of them were stands that were organized into a semi-circle around a small podium in its center. Opposite the semi-circle was a row of five podiums, presided over by a sixth behind them.

There were dozens of quarians occupying the stands and three at the podiums in front. Which made Kasumi wonder (since Raan was accounted for), where the other two were.

John strode up to the front, with Tali close behind. Kasumi smiled in anticipation as she took her place behind the two, with Grunt next to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the krogan's hand resting close to his weapon.

_He probably doesn't like having his back to so many people._

Kasumi hated to say it, but she kind of felt the same way. Traveling with the Shepards did that to a woman.

There was silence as John glared them down and Raan took her place at the podium behind the three Admirals.

"We now begin the trial of Tali'Zorah vas Normandy," she announced to the crowd, "Who stands accused of treason."

"Objection!" One of the Admirals yelled. Kasumi didn't like the sound of his voice. He sounded slimy and shamelessly political. "A human has no right at our proceedings."

"Staff Sergeant Shepard is her acting Captain." Raan replied. "If you didn't want a human here, Koris, you shouldn't have declared her 'vas Normandy'."

"Objection withdrawn." Admiral Koris conceded sullenly. Kasumi wanted to shake the woman's hand for putting him down so solidly.

"Captain Shepard," Raan continued, "What do you have to say?"

Kasumi watched as John looked down at the ground in thought, then approached the podium. He rested his hands against the railing and looked up at the Admirals as Kasumi awaited his words with baited breath.

"I stand before you today to represent a valuable member of my crew." John replied. "I regret that the Captain of the Neema is not allowed to stand at her side today."

John took another breath and Kasumi saw the Admirals slighlty leaning away from their podiums, thoroughly intimidated by the giant of a man.

"Tali has killed more geth than this entire room combined." John pointed out. "She's helped me save the galaxy as well as assisting our team in saving thousands of colonists on Horizon. She's a hero in more places than just the Migrant Fleet. The mere concept that she's worth anything less than adoration and praise from the Flotilla is disgusting."

"She certainly kicks more ass than any quarian I've seen." Grunt interjected, much to Kasumi's delight. She noticed Tali give Grunt an appreciative look. The big krogan shrugged and Kasumi figured he just wanted to say his piece. "Not a lot of krogans would respect a quarian, but she's certainly given me reason to."

"Admiral Gerrel." One of the Admirals introduced. This one sounded a lot more even and reasonable, to Kasumi's relief. "To be clear, we're not questioning her heroism or her loyalty. We're questioning whether her actions put the Flotilla at risk."

"She's the best engineer I know." John continued faithfully. Kasumi saw Tali's spine stiffen in pride. "And she knows more about the geth than anybody in this Flotilla. Maybe even the galaxy."

"Then explain how geth took over the Alarei and killed Admiral Zorah." The last Admiral stated in a snide voice, crossing her arms.

Kasumi felt herself go straight in surprise. She didn't have to be a quantum physics major to understand that the Admiral in question was Tali's father. Nor did she have to be too smart to understand that Tali had clearly not been told beforehand.

Kasumi looked around to see everyone quiet. John's mouth sagged open in shock. Grunt looked angry, probably on Tali's behalf. Though he'd never explicitly stated it, Kasumi knew he viewed the quarian as a sister and respected her as a warrior. Tali was just staring at the last Admiral and Kasumi could see shock registering behind her eyes.

"What?" Tali whispered, her voice a small whimper amongst the silence. "I...no, he couldn't be...no!"

As the woman began to sob, John reached over and put a comforting hand on Tali's shoulder. Tali didn't resist, but twisted in and put her arms around John, her body jerking as she cried. John slipped a hand around her back and held her tightly, seeming lost as to what to do.

Kasumi received a significant look from John and she moved to Tali. She hesitantly put an arm around Tali's shoulders and peeled her off John, moving her away from the assembly area. Tali didn't resist, her shoulders jerking with each sob.

"They-" she whispered, "It couldn't...how could they..."

A quarian stepped in front of Kasumi, perhaps to stop her, but Grunt appeared from nowhere and thrust a hand out, shoving the man away.

"Beat it." Grunt growled, his voice daring the man to resist.

The quarian stayed away, not willing to tangle with an angry krogan for formality's sake.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are!" John yelled. "Tali's always told me that the quarians value family above all else. I don't know how you justify springing this on Tali in the middle of a damn trial."

"We didn't mean to-" Koris started from behind them, but John wasn't finished.

"I'm calling for a recess." John replied. "I don't know if your proceedings have them, but we're taking one whether you like it or not. Once Tali is fit to stand up here, we'll come back."

The Admirals, to Kasumi's surprise, didn't put up much resistance against the idea. They slunk off sullenly as the group pulled Tali off to the side. Kasumi let the woman down at one of the bulkheads in the corner.

"Tali." John said, crouching down to get level with the woman, "You'll be alright."

"I just don't understand it." She said quietly. "I didn't send back anything operational."

"Get yourself ready for another round on the stand." John answered. Kasumi crouched down next to him, "I'm going to go speak to the Admirals and figure out what's going on. There's some infighting there and I don't know why."

"I'll be here." Tali replied.

John walked off and for the next twenty minutes, Kasumi and Grunt just stayed nearby, ensuring that Tali was alright. Tali didn't seem to mind, probably preferring the silent company. When John returned, he crouched back down in front of Tali.

"You ready to go again?"

"Yes." Tali answered, her voice quiet but resolute. John stood and extended a hand down. Tali grabbed it and he pulled her up.

Kasumi felt no small amount of rage towards the Admirals, until John started speaking.

"I actually understand why Koris is being such a dick." He told the group.

"I don't." Tali answered resolutely, sounding highly offended that John seemed to be nearly siding with the Admiral. "He's never been-"

"A war with the geth is imminent as soon as they get some technology produced." John answered, quieting them all. Kasumi thought that was the dumbest idea she'd ever heard. "Koris wants Tali exiled as an example to forestall the war. I may not agree with how he's treating you, but at least I can understand why he's doing what he's doing. If the quarians go to war now, they'll be easy pickings when the Reapers show up. If they even survive."

Kasumi went deep into thought, feeling a little guilty that she kind of sympathized with the asshole of an Admiral.

"I don't get it." Grunt said, "Why shouldn't they go to war and reclaim their homeworld?"

"Because the geth outnumber and outgun them." John explained. "And even if the quarians somehow win, they'll be in poor shape for the fight with the Reapers."

Grunt nodded and Kasumi got the feeling he was adding it to the list of morals and tactics that the crew was teaching him.

Quarans were starting to file back into the semi-circle as Raan took her spot behind the three Admirals.

"We will hear Tali'Zorah's Captain speak once more before we render judgement." Admiral Raan announced. "Does her Captain have anymore to say?"

"This whole trial is a complete sham." John countered steadily, shocking the entire court and startling even Kasumi, "C'mon, Tali, we're out of here."

"What?" Kasumi heard Raan say from the board as John grabbed Tali by the shoulder and turned her around. Kasumi turned with them, Grunt at her side. "Stop them!"

A quarian with hands on his weapon moved to stop them, but Grunt merely slammed his fist into the quarian's gut as Kasumi pulled her SMG on another armed quarian that was moving their way. She shook her head at the quarian, who put his hands up in surrender.

"Don't try it, honey." Kasumi advised the man.

"Out of our way, assholes." Grunt rumbled towards a pair of quarians that blocked their exit. Kasumi spotted an armed quarian nearby in a white and pink envirosuit that seemed to be laughing.

"This is a formal proceeding!" Gerrel yelled.

"Wrong!" John yelled, turning right back around and and storming towards the stand. The quarian Admirals all took a step back, unconsciously cowed into silence by the enraged giant. Kasumi had never felt more like cheering aloud than she did for the incensed Marine. "This is a mockery! Koris wants to use this trial to build support for the geth and keep everyone from going to war!"

"But, I-" The Admiral sputtered. Kasumi noticed that Gerrel seemed pleased with himself, but he wasn't escaping either.

"And Gerrel wants to find something he can use to drum up support for the war!" John continued. "Xen wants a chance to test out her toys and Raan is too spineless to take sides. The only other member of your Admiralty who's worth a damn is off fighting a Reaper, which is something I can actually say makes her the single most useful of you lot. If you want to fight amongst each other, be my guest. But keep my crewmembers out of your political bullshit!"

The entire deck of the Rayya went silent and Kasumi saw John's hands gripping the rail so hard she was surprised the metal hadn't warped. She idly wondered who the sixth Admiral was, but wasn't too worried about it at the moment.

"She's been invaluable." He continued, his voice quieter and almost introspective. "She misses the Flotilla and says the Normandy's too quiet for her to sleep. I haven't always treated her as well as I should have-"

Kasumi noticed Tali perk up at the words, turning her gaze towards the gigantic Marine. Kasumi felt a smile tugging at her mouth.

"But I'm trying to make up for it." John said, looking down at Tali and smiling. The expression was odd on his face, but not altogether out of place. "One thing I do know: She deserves a hell of a lot better than you people, if this is how you want to treat her. Banishing her in the name of your petty squabbles would be the biggest mistake the Migrant Fleet could ever make."

There was a long silence as the Admirals seemed to shrink back a little, clearly still shell-shocked that John had called out each and every one of them in turn.

"We..." Raan started, apparently unable to find the words to say, "Are the...are the Admirals ready to render judgement."

Slowly, the Admirals raised their arms and started typing on their omni-tools. Kasumi watched with bated breath as Admiral Raan looked down at her omni-tool before looking up at the surrounding quarians.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy." She announced. "In light of your deeds and service, the Admiralty Board does not find enough evidence to convict you of treason."

There was cheering around them and Kasumi felt a smile shine on her face.

"About damn time." Grunt muttered angrily.

Kasumi looked out to see Tali glaring at the Admirals. Innocent or not, Kasumi knew the verdict didn't change what they'd just done to her. Kasumi knew she wasn't extremely close to her father, but that made it no less sad.

As the quarians started to file out, John pulled Tali side, with Kasumi and Grunt following.

"Thanks." She whispered, looking up at John. "I've never...nobody's ever spoken for me like that before."

"This whole trial was insulting." He said. Kasumi noticed something beneath the usual anger. "You deserve better."

Kasumi watched with amusement as Tali looked up at the big man and cocked her head.

"I do." She said quietly. "And maybe..."

_Say it. _Kasumi thought to herself, annoyed by Tali and John's stubbornness. _I know you want to._

"Maybe what?" John asked.

"I-"

"Shepard." A voice rang in from their side. They all turned to find Admiral Koris there, arms crossed.

"Yes?" John growled, anger an undercurrent in his voice.

"I want to apologize for my behavior in there." The Admiral answered. "I put my concerns before one of our best people."

"Why are you so damn concerned, Admiral?" Tali asked, sounding irritated. Kasumi couldn't blame her, honestly.

"Because if it weren't for Lena, this war would've already started." He explained. "Had she not taken my side, I wouldn't be an Admiral and we'd be throwing ourselves at the geth this very second."

"They tried to circumvent you?" John asked, looking surprised. Kasumi had to admit that she was pretty shocked, herself. She hadn't known that quarian politics were even more shady than human politics.

"Yes." Koris answered. "Admiral Zuril prevented them from doing it by pulling away enough Marines to halt an invasion. Their strength aside, I don't believe we should be going to war with the geth."

"The geth drove us off our world, Admiral." Tali reminded him crossly.

"Of course they did." Admiral Koris replied. "We tried to kill them. I don't know if a peace can be reached, but we have never given them the opportunity and Zuril says they are more open to it than we are."

"I understand." John replied. Kasumi was glad he got it. She looked over to find Grunt looking somewhat confused.

_That's right. _Kasumi thought to herself. _He doesn't quite grasp the concept of peace, yet._

"The galaxy needs more people saying what you're saying." John finished, holding a hand out. "Good luck, Koris. Hopefully I won't have to yell at you next time we meet."

"I can only hope." The quarian agreed, returning the handshake. "And good luck to you, Tali."

Tali didn't answer, just giving the Admiral a nod. He walked away and Tali looked around, spotting Kasumi. The thief felt a little disappointed that Tali and John weren't going to resolve the rather obvious mutual attraction between them.

"Well," Tali said, "I'm not exiled and Joker's gone for a few hours. What should we do?"

"Shoot something." Grunt answered.

"That's...not an option, big guy." Kasumi answered with a grin. She loved to tease the big krogan. "What do quarians do for fun?"

"Vids." She answered immediately. "I used to watch them with the children. Come on, I could use a good one."

Kasumi felt a long, gloved, three-fingered grip latch onto hers' as Tali grabbed her by the hand and started to tug her away towards another corridor.

_If she gets much more adorable,_ Kasumi thought inwardly,_ I'll have to start stealing stickers to put on her helmet. _

"We're watching a damn vid?" Grunt groaned from behind her.

"Someday, Grunt," Kasumi heard John mutter, "You're going to grow up and learn a valuable human lesson. When a woman drags you along to see a vid, no force on heaven or earth can stop her."

**_Time for Garrus/Jane, now. _**


	28. Chapter 28

_**Doctor Mordin Solus - Citadel**_

The Citadel was a hive of activity when they'd boarded. In other words, it was business as normal for the massive station.

In the couple of weeks since he'd met Vakarian, Doctor Solus had never seen the turian so tense. He looked as though he would snap if touched. Mordin knew it was because Garrus was about to get revenge on the person who'd betrayed his entire squad and let good men die, but revenge had always been such a tenuous motive.

_Sloppy. _He reasoned, _Sometimes unable to see innocents or big picture._

It was a motive that he'd never been able to personally understand. He took pleasure in seeing his enemies get their comeuppance like any other being, but he wouldn't pursue it himself if there was no goal or nothing to be earned. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen when they found Fade and was privately worried that the turian would kill the man in a fit of rage, an unwise choice on a place like the Citadel.

"Commander." Mordin started, gesturing to the angry turian striding through the corridors in front of them, "Conerned about Vakarian's mental state."

"Aren't we all?" Jane replied sardonically, to the salarian doctor's amusement.

"Concerned that desire for revenge might override concern for safety." Dr. Solus pointed out, pleased that Jane agreed with him.

He would never say it aloud, but though he liked both of the Shepards, he liked the sister far more. She was kind, concerned and took care of the people in her crew. While John would take care of his people, Dr. Solus got the feeling that his morals were something that he would quickly sweep aside if it would get the mission accomplished.

It was probably the reason John and Garrus got along so well. The turian was determined to do the right thing, no matter what had to be sacrificed along the way. It was a bottom line that Mordin had once respected, but had now come to doubt.

"We'll figure it out when we can." Mordin heard the human mutter next to him. "It's just a matter of timing."

"Indeed." Mordin agreed.

They quietly walked down another corridor, this one leading downwards into a loading bay. The bay had been cleared of workers and a volus stood in the center, flanked by a pair of krogan. The little exo-suit wearing alien looked up at Garrus, who led the group.

"Fade?" Garrus asked. Mordin observed a note of disbelief in the turian's voice and had to admit that he felt the same way. Volus were notorious for being bankers and information brokers, not full-on criminals.

_Volus certainly clever. _Mordin revised, _But not physically adept at violence or running._

"Yes." The volus immediately answered, clicks and wheezes from his mouthpiece interrupting his speech. "Which one of you wants to disappear?"

"I'd rather you made someone reappear." Garrus growled.

"That's...not a service we provide." The volus answered. Doctor Solus watched in amusement as the krogan's hands slowly started to their weapons.

_Krogans not as subtle as they believe. _

Mordin already had an incineration program loaded up onto his omni-tool and ready for the krogan. The incineration program would burn right through their armor and make them vulnerable for Jane and Garrus.

The salarian doctor noticed a look pass between the two krogan after they looked at Garrus. Mordin knew that the turian had worked with C-Sec previously and probably had established quite the reputation on the Citadel. Add to that his fearsome features as well as his clear rage and Mordin was surprised the krogan hadn't already decided to take themselves elsewhere.

_Krogan smarter than people think. _Mordin thought to himself, drawing inwardly on his experience with the brutes, _Have to be, to survive for over a thousand years. Know when to fight, know when to find less suicidal fight._

"Make an exception." Garrus ordered, the blue-armored turian narrowing his eyes at the volus. "Just this once."

"Shoot them!" The volus exclaimed, gesturing frantically to the krogan behind him. Mordin brought his arm up, palm out and ready to direct the program from his omni-tool at the krogan on the left. Jane already had her Carnifex pistol up and ready. The krogan she was aiming it at eyed the powerful pistol warily. "Shoot them, you lumbering mountains!"

Mordin couldn't help but notice that Garrus was so angry (or cared so little) that he hadn't even raised a claw towards the krogan. Which was highly unusual for the normally violent turian. He did spare both of the krogan a glare.

"Why don't you two find somewhere else to sulk?" He asked evenly, his voice tense.

Both the krogan shot each other a glance again before walking away from the volus, who sighed in irritation.

"Why do I even bother?" He wondered aloud.

"Shut up." Garrus ordered immediately, silencing the volus. "Now, about my friend-"

"Wait!" The volus yelled, holding up a forestalling hand. "I'm not Fade."

"I knew it." Mordin heard Jane mutter next to him. Mordin lowered his omni-tool as the krogan exited the room, content that they wouldn't be coming back. "Where can we find him?"

"Harkin should be down by the factory district." The volus explained.

Mordin didn't know who that was, but Jane and Garrus did. He heard Garrus scoff and Jane let out a groan.

"That drunken ass." Mordin heard her mutter. "I remember him."

"Am I free to go?" The volus wondered, looking up at Garrus.

"Of course." Garrus answered, looking back down at the volus, "But if he's not there, we'll be coming back."

"Oh." The volus muttered, "Wonderful."

Without another word, Garrus turned on his heel and stalked out of the warehouse. Mordin glanced over at Jane, whose jade eyes were following Garrus' retreating back with no small amount of worry. Mordin just shrugged and they followed Garrus' wake through the hallway to find him at a terminal, arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently as he waited for a cab.

"Hey." Jane called softly as the two approached Garrus. "Are you okay?"

"Okay?" Garrus repeated. Mordin could hear the undercurrent of anxiety in his voice, "Jane, I'm about to catch up with the man who killed my men on Omega. My friends. I don't think I've had such a good day in my life."

Mordin took a moment to reflect how sad of a statement that was as the cab arrived. Garrus took the passenger's seat as Mordin and Jane piled into the back. Mordin couldn't help noticing the cab driver taking an interest in Jane, glancing at the human and taking in the red spidering lines of the cybernetics.

"Where to?" Their asari driver asked, the sweet-looking woman eying Garrus nervously. Mordin got the impression that she'd seen him before. "Officer?"

The last part was more a question, but Garrus looked at the woman evenly and nodded.

"Factory district." Garrus replied. "Discretion would be preferable."

"Yes, sir." She answered, the car lurching into motion. There was silence in the cab, an uncomfortable one that even Mordin couldn't find a conversation to fill. To his relief, Jane spared him trying to awkwardly invade the tense quiet.

"Blue." She muttered quietly. Mordin had never heard the nickname before, but he got the impression she just wanted to address Garrus without using his name, for the driver's sake. Garrus turned in his seat to look at her. "I just...I don't want you to become the shadow you're chasing."

Mordin had never heard the idiom, figuring it was a human one. Its meaning was clear enough, though.

"A traitor?" The turian growled, his voice rising.

"A murderer." She shot back.

"We kill a _lot_ of people, Jane." He pointed.

"Excuse me," The cab driver asked, turning to the woman as they swooped beneath a truck, "Are you Commander Shepard?"

"Yes." Jane answered quickly, not even taking her attention off of Garrus. "Blue, we've killed a lot of people, sure. We've never murdered anyone."

"_You've _never murdered anyone." Garrus answered. "John, however..."

"Don't bring him into this." Jane growled. Mordin was surprised to see the normally serene and kind woman genuinely angry. "This isn't about him. This is about you."

"If I could just-" The cab driver started, but Mordin cut her off.

"Conversation personal in nature." He pointed out. "Suggest staying out of it."

"Sure." The woman muttered. "Start a conversation in my cab and then tell me to stay out of it."

_One of the most dangerous people in the galaxy sits behind her._ He thought to himself, _As well as an older armed salarian and a visibly dangerous turian and she's complaining about their lack of etiquette._

Mordin liked her.

"What do you want from me, Jane?" Garrus finally asked. "You knew it would come to this. We all did."

"Just...let me talk to him, when we find him." She pleaded. The tone was unusual for Mordin, used to the Commander only ever asking or telling. "Things aren't always as they seem."

"Talk all you want." Garrus rebuffed. "All I care about is Sidonis' head."

Everyone went silent, especially the now-cautious driver. When they reached the factory district, the driver let them out, with Jane paying the fare. Garrus moved out to the crowded area as they stepped out of the cab. Mordin saw him suddenly start towards a balding human who simply looked slimy. Mordin had seen his types plenty of times during his lengthy career.

He was flanked by a pair of batarians in a familiar blue armor.

_Seems Blue Suns protect the human. _Mordin observed. _Wonder what he offered them? Must've made quite a living off making people disappear._

Mordin stopped his observations when the human looked confusedly between the two in front of him.

"Garrus?" He wondered aloud, "Shepard?"

"Fade." The turian grunted.

"Get them!" Harkin yelled to his two protectors. They both brought their weapons up and screams reverberated throughout the factory area as civilians scrambled out of the way.

Mordin brought his Tempest SMG up and saw the Commander raising her weapon next to him. Mordin didn't waste time waffling over whether or not he should shoot. He opened fire as he came up, putting two rounds in the batarian's gut and chest as the batarian flinched, unable to get a shot off in time. Mordin put a third round in the batarian's head, sealing the deal as the batarian dropped to the floor.

The other batarian dropped, leaving a fleeing Harkin alone. Mordin watched Garrus bring up his assault rifle and fire a precise round right next to the man's head. It impacted in a door in front of him and the man stopped, the implications obvious. He slowly raised his hands and turned to face Garrus.

"Not so tough without the bodyguards, huh?" Garrus asked, approaching the man.

Harkin swung, attempting to catch Garrus in the vulnerable temple. Garrus easily slipped the swing, leaning backwards to avoid the fist and coming back in to launch a fist at the human's face. Vakarian caught the man in the center of his face, breaking the man's nose with a crunch that was audible to his teammates.

Harkin dropped to the floor on his butt, staring up at the turian as blood started to seep from his nose.

"Garrus." He said, his voice taking a tone that Mordin typically only heard in salesmen, "Calm down. We can work something out."

Garrus apparently wasn't interested in talking. Mordin watched the turian kick forward, landing his foot in the man's gut. Harkin gasped for breath and Garrus started to move forward again before Jane reached a hand up to his shoulder. Mordin was surprised when Garrus stopped, looking over his shoulder and giving the woman a small nod.

"What...What do you want?" Harkin asked, sounding terrified. Mordin felt a small moment of disgust at the man's plain fear.

That disgust went away immediately as Garrus strode forward, grabbed the man by his shirt and swung him around into a wall. Mordin winced as the man slammed into it and started coughing reflexively, the breath driven from his body.

"You're going to make someone reappear." Garrus told the man.

Mordin noticed that a few civilians were still in the area and now they were starting to stare. He looked over to see Jane shaking her head at Garrus before stalking over towards them, probably to tell them to go away.

"Maybe." Harkin allowed. "You still haven't told me who you're after."

"Sidonis." Garrus answered instantly. Out of the corner of his eye, Mordin noticed the civilians starting to filter out and Jane returning to them. "Turian, st-"

"I know who it is." Harkin replied immediately, his gaze hardening into a glare. "And I'm not telling you shit."

"This can be easy." Mordin pointed out, feeling that he had to say something, "Give us information, we go away."

"Giving out customer information is bad for business." Harkin answered, crossing his arms stubbornly.

That did it. Garrus brought his knee up and Mordin could hear the crunching as the impact broke ribs. Harkin cried out and fell to the floor on his back. Garrus placed his foot on Harkin's neck and Mordin could see him slowly applying pressure.

"You know what else is bad for business?!" Garrus yelled. Mordin was a little concerned, at this point. He'd never heard the normally emotionless turian raise his voice. "A broken neck!"

"Alright!" Harkin gasped. Garrus removed the foot and the beaten human looked up at him. "Terminus really changed you, huh Garrus?"

"No." Garrus answered, "But Sidonis...opened my eyes."

Commander Shepard rejoined them as Harkin stood, holding a hand over his midsection gingerly. He started typing on his omni-tool and then began talking.

"Yeah, Sidonis." Harkin started, "It's me. There's been an issue with your identity. Meet me at the market district on level 24, alright?"

He deactivated the omni-tool and looked back up.

"I can go now, right?"

"I don't think so, Harkin." Garrus answered immediately. Mordin noticed him unholster his pistol. "You're a criminal."

The man's eyes widened and he started talking fast.

"So what, you're just going to kill me?" Harkin asked, terrified, "That's not your style, Garrus."

"Kill you?" Garrus asked, raising the pistol, "No. But I don't mind slowing you down a little."

He lowered the weapon towards the man's legs and Mordin moved to stop Garrus, but Jane was quicker. She stepped in front of the weapon and Mordin saw Garrus' finger immediately move off of the trigger.

"What are you doing?" He asked flatly.

"He won't be able to run from C-Sec, now that they know who he is." Jane pointed out. "There's no need."

Mordin shifted uncomfortably as the two stared at each other, then Garrus looked at Harkin as he holstered his weapon.

"You got off easy, Harkin."

"Yeah." The snide human replied, "I hope we can do this again real soon."

Shepard turned away and Mordin moved to follow her when Garrus suddenly jerked forward, slamming his forehead into that of the human's. Mordin knew from his studies that the metal of the turian's faces was much stronger than the bone of the human skull. With another crunch, bones broke in the man's face and he dropped with a pained yell. Finally, Garrus did turn around and Mordin went with him.

"Sidonis better be there, Harkin." Garrus warned, "Or I'm coming back to finish the job."

Mordin caught up with Jane, who was already at a terminal and calling another cab.

"I didn't shoot him." Garrus muttered as they approached. Mordin could hear the tone of surprise in his voice.

"I'm worried about you, Garrus." Jane said quietly. Mordin was glad she was saying something, as he didn't want to.

_Conversation personal, best left to good friends._

Not that Mordin and Garrus didn't have a professional relationship, but that's all it was: professional. He wasn't exactly friends with the turian. Nor was he...whatever Jane was with the turian.

"Why?" He asked, looking at Jane. "Harkin was a scumbag. He-"

"I've seen revenge take hold of somebody." Jane replied, cutting over the turian's explanation. "John...he...our parents were killed by batarian slavers when I was young."

Mordin was surprised to hear the woman talking about her past. From the look on Garrus' face, so was he. Mordin realized he knew very little of Jane's past and had to admit that he was interested to hear what had happened.

"He was in the military at the time and took me away from the colony I was on." She continued. "Hid me away or would support me when he was stationed on colonies. When the time came for a mission to pay the batarians back for the Skyllian Blitz, he signed up. A lot of people died under his command, because he wanted his revenge."

"John's the most proficient human I've." Garrus pointed out. "Hell, he might be the most proficient _person _I've ever met."

"Sure." Jane replied. "His men killed ten or so batarians for every one they lost, but there were a _lot _of batarians on that moon. As a result, nearly all of his men died. Every batarian who surrendered or who had no part in the Skyllian Blitz also died."

There was a long silence as Mordin saw the cab approaching from around a building.

"Why are you telling me this, Jane?" Garrus asked.

"Because I don't want you to become that, Garrus." She answered earnestly.

The silence that followed was even thicker than the last, as the cab pulled up and they all piled in. Mordin was happy to see that they hadn't got the same driver, which was far less suspicious than getting the same exact one the whole way through.

When they got to the market, Mordin was dismayed to find so many people around. While he was confident that Garrus would be able to hit Sidonis without killing anyone else, he didn't like the idea that there were children around who'd see it.

"Would suggest killing him out of the way of crowd." Mordin said when they stepped out of the cab. "Children, innocents should not have to see this."

"Fine by me." Garrus growled. They looked around until Mordin spotted a perfectly suitable alleyway between two shops that looked like it had enough clutter inside to keep the killing private.

"Over there." Mordin said, indicating the alleyway. Jane looked where he was pointing and nodded.

"That'll do it." She said.

"Good." Garrus said, "Lure him over there and I'll take him out."

"Mordin." Jane said, drawing the salarian's gaze, "You go with him."

Mordin nodded and followed the turian as he started towards the alleyway.

"Can't believe I'm finally going to get to do this." Garrus muttered.

"Revenge always a messy motive." Mordin pointed out.

"Yes." Garrus answered sardonically as they passed into the alleyway. "Coming from a man who's killed thousands-"

"Not killed." Mordin argued, "Merely changed reproductive rates."

"Yeah." Garrus answered as he leaned up against a wall, obscuring himself behind a load of crates. "Let's not call hundreds of thousands of stillborn infants 'murder'. It was just an experiment. You know, for the greater good."

Mordin went silent himself, not willing to let the turian realize how closely he'd struck home.

"Spent a lot of time studying religion, karma and other theories especially." Mordin answered quietly, watching a turian approach Jane in the center of the marketplace. "I feel dirty, Garrus. I'm afraid it's a feeling you may come to know, if you keep this up."

Garrus eyed the doctor in clear surprise.

"I think that's the most coherent sentence I've ever heard you speak." He told Mordin.

"Turian incoming." Mordin answered, watching the turian being forced over towards the alleyway. Mordin couldn't see it, but he knew that Jane had a pistol pressing into the turian's back as she kept leading him towards them.

Mordin could see the excitement in Garrus' eyes as he slowly pushed off the wall.

"-n't know who you could possibly be selling me out to." Sidonis said as he closed in. "I'm a nobody."

"Maybe here on the Citadel, Sidonis." Garrus answered, still obscured from the man's view. "You weren't a nobody on Omega, though. And not everybody died there."

The reaction would've been comical, in nearly any other time. The turian's eyes went wide and he stopped, casting his gaze at the crates Garrus was hidden behind. Mordin saw a flash of resignation in the man's eyes, as well as...resolve?

"Garrus." He whispered. He passed by Mordin without a glance and found himself face to face with Garrus, who was gripping his pistol tight. "If you're going to do this, please do it. I've lived enough with this."

"Now's not the time for selling me pity, Sidonis." Garrus informed him, cocking his head at the man.

"I'm not selling anything." Sidonis answered. Mordin noticed, then, how tired Sidonis looked. His shoulders were sagging and his hands were limp. It was the look of a man who was haunted, one who didn't particularly care much about his life. "Garrus. What happened...never should've happened."

"How much did they pay you?" Garrus growled.

"They never paid me anything." Sidonis told him. "It was my life. They beat me, nearly killed me. I gave everyone up to spare my life."

"You still shouldn't have given us up, Sidonis." Garrus replied. Mordin could hear a strange tone there. "We would've died for you. We expected you would do the same for us."

"Not a moment goes by where I don't think about what I did." Sidonis answered. Mordin noticed that he didn't even seem to be looking at Garrus anymore, his eyes going somewhat misty. "Food has no taste, the liquor can only do so much and I haven't been able to look anyone in the eyes since it happened."

He looked back down at Garrus.

"I don't care if you kill me, Garrus." He finally said. "I'm glad it's going to be you, actually. I'm sorry."

Garrus stared the man down and Mordin could see a whole torrent of different emotions in the usually stern gaze. Mordin had to admit that the story sounded a little different, now that Sidonis was telling it. He didn't seem

"Garrus." Jane muttered, "Don't do this."

"Are you telling me not to, Jane?" Garrus asked, pistol still in hand as he continued staring at the turian.

"I once asked you to make the right choice, Garrus." Commander Shepard answered softly, looking at Garrus with eyes that Mordin would personally classify as weary, "I'm behind you no matter what you want to do. But I'm telling you, you will regret this."

There was another long silence. Finally Garrus gestured to the market.

"Go." He ordered Sidonis. "Now."

The turian nodded and started to move towards the marketplace, but stopped and seemed to think it over before turning back to Garrus.

"I'm trying to make up for it." He told Garrus. "I know it's not much of a relief to you. If you're ever around the Citadel and you need help, I'll be here. I owe you indefinitely."

Garrus nodded but didn't say anything. Sidonis turned back around and started out towards the market as Garrus sat down on a box.

Mordin felt a small sense of relief. Though there was certainly justification for killing Sidonis, he was glad to see Garrus make what he felt was the right decision.

"Garrus." Jane said quietly, her emerald gaze speaking volumes of relief and pride.

"It's so much easier to see the world in black and white." Garrus told her, watching Sidonis' retreating back. "Gray? I don't know what to do with gray."

"Thank you." Was all she said. Mordin felt uncomfortably out of place as Garrus cast a gaze up at her.

"I didn't do it for you, Jane." Garrus answered. "I...I don't want to stay here. We should get going."

Jane smiled and held a hand out. Garrus took it and she pulled him up. They started to walk away, still uncomfortably close together. Mordin watched them go for a moment, thinking it better to follow them at a distance to give them some space.

_This team more like one of my musicals than a military unit. _He grumbled to himself.


	29. Chapter 29

_**Subject Zero - Unlisted Planet**_

Jack didn't know what she hated more. That she was being forced to go with the Cerberus cheerleader or that she was stuck out in the hot sun in a tropical planet. Jack wasn't like most of the other women in the galaxy. The thought of visiting Virmire or Illium didn't make her swoon. She preferred the dark places of the galaxy.

What was even worse was the obvious sexual tension between the cheerleader and Jacob. It made Jack feel like an outsider and while she usually wouldn't have a problem with it, they were also the same people who'd be watching her back through whatever they found on the deserted planet.

_Well, not completely deserted. _Jack amended.

They'd come upon a woman, one who'd been so incoherent that Jack had barely been able to understand her ramblings. Miranda had suggested that Jack act as an interpreter, since she 'spoke crazy'. Jack, in turn, had suggested that Miranda would look much better missing a mouthful of teeth. The ever-dutiful Jacob had separated the quarreling women.

As soon as he had, a shot had rang out and Jacob had barely managed to push the woman out of the way of the round before Jack and Miranda tore through the group of men. The woman had thanked them and was now escorting them to her 'camp'.

_I don't like this. _Jack thought to herself as they followed the visibly battered woman through a jungle. _I don't think we're in danger, but something is very wrong here._

Instinct was something that had kept Jack alive far past the expiration date of a criminal of her magnitude. She'd learned to trust it and in turn, it had provided her the means to survive. Still, it wasn't like she didn't have her mind on something, as well.

After her conversation with the cheerleader, she'd come to wonder a few things. So she'd checked up on the woman. Turned out, her story was true. Her father had been chasing her and her sister across the galaxy, ever since she was young and had to run away from home. So, she'd joined Cerberus in exchange for protection and a chance to use what she knew.

It hadn't made Jack like the cheerleader anymore than before, but at least she now understood the woman's constant defense of Cerberus. Plus, she would be willing to admit that she had developed a little bit of respect for the runaway.

_The woman has balls._

A thought that annoyed her.

She was surprised when they came upon the camp, though. It would've been more accurate to refer to it as a 'village'. Pieces of the ship that had crashed on the planet had been cannibalized to create shelter and other necessary buildings.

One thing Jack couldn't help noticing: Every single one of the village people were female. Jack was immediately bothered by that. A trio of them ran up, all three of them looking astounded by the newcomers. Even those in the camp were staring.

Jack didn't like it. She didn't like being the center of attention, but at least they were focused on Miranda.

"You come from the sky!" One of them yelled, an overjoyed look on her face. "He told us you would come an-"

Jacob stepped out from behind them and the reaction was instantaneous. One of the girls flinched and the other two stepped back, holding their hands up in clear surrender.

"You have his face!" The lead girl yelled as they slowly started to back away. "He said he'd bring help, but he brings only more pain."

They started to flee and Jack looked at Jacob.

"Something you said?" she taunted.

"You heard them." Jacob growled, ignoring her. "I have _his _face. He's kept them here."

"This looks bad." Miranda conceded. Jack had to agree.

Jack could see clear anger mounting within the Cerberus operative. She saw the tell-tale flexing of his fists and the tight clenching of his jaw, both of which were pretty standard reactions for the stoic types when they were angry.

Jack had to admit that she was feeling a small sampling of rage on the part of the women here. Killer or not, she didn't particularly enjoy the idea of a man running a harem and forcing women to have sex with him.

They continued on through the village, with every woman shrinking back at Jacob's presence. Jack watched with amusement as the man tried to ignore it but steadily became angrier and angrier until three LOKI mechs marched out at the end of the village.

Miranda and Jack didn't even have time to fire a shot. Using more biotics than she'd been aware that the Cerberus soldier had, Jacob picked up all three of the mechs and slammed them against a rock face. With the clashing of steel and sparking of electronics, they awkwardly crumbled to the ground.

Jacob pulled his pistol and finished all three of them. There was a long moment of awkward silence, before Jack felt she should say something.

"So...we gonna kill your rapist father or what?"

"Let's go." Jacob answered, clearly not in the mood (much to Jack's pleasure).

They moved past a small passageway, where they could see the bodies of a bunch of men posed in clear warning. All of them looked fresh.

"This...thing...can't be my father." Jacob growled angrily, a narrowed glare set on the bodies. "I need to find him. To hear him answer for this."

"Jacob..." Miranda started, sounding a little uncomfortable, "This wasn't suppo-"

"I know, Miri." He answered quietly. "You were only trying to help. That's more than most see, from you."

"More than anyone." She corrected.

"Just fuck, already." Jack moaned in exasperation.

Both of the Cerberus operatives shot her a glare, but Jack didn't particularly care about their opinions of either of them.

They moved on to another junk-riddled area and promptly dispatched a group of mechs. Jack noticed that Jacob seemed to be letting fully loose. She'd never really seen him as that big a combatant in the group, but it was all headshots and powerful biotics with him, at the moment.

_We should piss him off more often._

In the next area, they ran into actual people, along with something else.

"Thank God you're here." Came a voice over a PA system set up somewhere. Jack and the rest of the group were busy getting behind cover from the opposition, which consisted of eight people and mechs. "The hunters were going to start breaking through soon."

"He's played harem for ten years and lived like a king." Jacob seethed, his teeth visibly clenched together, "Now that they're fighting back, he wants out. Son of a bitch."

"I'm afraid you'll have to fight the guards, though." The voice continued, "They've gone crazy, too."

"Throwing lives away!?" Jacob yelled as he ducked behind cover to avoid fire from a LOKI mech. Jack took hold of the mech, tossed it off the edge of the path and into the water below. Then she was forced down when one of the hunters opened fire on her. "This filth isn't my father!"

"I got you!" Miranda yelled, putting a trio of rounds into the man shooting at Jack.

"Don't need your help, cheerleader!" Jack shot back as she threw a ball of biotic energy into a man's face, the force of which knocked him clear out.

"I don't think anyone can help you, Jack." Miranda agreed.

"Bite me, bitch." Jack replied, but felt a small smirk on her face.

The last mech went down and they moved on into some sort of compound, complete with LOKI mechs, hunters, and one gigantic YMIR mech.

"Shit!" Jack yelled, summing up the predicament perfectly as she pressed herself up against a low wall. A missile flew over her head and exploded directly on the wall behind them, which they were (thankfully) far away enough from that it had no effect on them.

"Why don't you just punch it to death!?" Miranda yelled.

"Cover me!" Jack said by way of answer.

To her surprise, the two men in front of her were forced to duck down as Miranda opened fire onthem. The YMIR was currently in the middle of reloading, giving Jack a clear shot. She dashed out of cover, leaving the pistol in hand but not firing. She gathered biotic energy around her fist and leaped forward, landing on the YMIR's 'chest'.

The convict drove her fist forward, twisting her body to add more force to the hit. Her fist penetrated the armor, the biotic force adding more power to the punch and cushioning the damage to her hand. It still hurt like hell, but her hand brushed wiring, which she wrapped a hand around and ripped out.

With an electronic groan, the YMIR dropped to the ground on its back, tossing Jack off of the mech and into a small closed-in area with two people hiding behind cover.

Remembering that she still had her pistol, she managed to raise it and fire on both of the surprised men before they could react, sending them to the ground with holes riddling their bodies.

She didn't hear more gunfire and looked up to see the rest of the area cleared by Jacob and Miranda.

"Jack!" Jacob called out from somewhere to her right, "You alright!?"

"Might've broken my fucking hand!" Jack answered, pushing herself up and glaring down at her already-swollen and bruised hand, "But I think I'm alright!"

She rejoined Jacob and Miranda, who didn't even looked ruffled by the short but intense skirmish. They advanced into the last area, which was a passage created by two rock walls that led to an outpost on an isolated cliff. Jack only spotted one man in that outpost and she could guess who it was.

In truth, Ronald Taylor didn't look too much like his son. Jack figured it could've been genetic, or all the time he'd spent on the island. He looked haggard, exhausted and..._slimy_.

"I knew the Alliance would get here in time." He told them, joy in his voice. Jack noticed that he was eying both her and Miranda in places he shouldn't have been eying them. "I'll make sure to get you guys something nice when we get back to the Citadel, I've _got _to have some backpay coming."

Jack felt a quiet rage at the man, but even she knew that it wasn't her business to get involved in. The three of them were silent, something that Ronald Taylor picked up on.

"I'm...sorry you had to come out here, but-"

"Cut the bullshit!" Jack yelled, fed up with the man's attitude. Jacob surprised her by chiming in next.

"This is a very questionable set-up you're running, _Acting Captain._"

"You can't speak to a Captain like that!" Ronal Taylor yelled, "Who's your superior?!"

"Operative Miranda Lawson." Jacob answered coldly, gesturing to the woman.

"And I believe you already know Operative Jacob Taylor." Miranda supplied helpfully.

The reaction was instantaneous. While Jack thought of the different ways she could tear his intestines out through his abdomen, Ronald Taylor's eyes went wide and he stepped back defensively.

"Jacob?" He asked, stumbling backwards, "No. No, not Jacob."

"Why not me?!" Jacob yelled at his father. "It's only not alright to play harem when your son can find out?!"

"Jacob, you don't understand." Captain Taylor answered, striding to the edge of the wall and gripping the rails. "The realities of command...they change you. Turn you into-"

"I'm not interested in excuses, Dad!" Jacob roared, pulling his pistol out and jamming it directly in his father's face. Jack had to admit that 'angry-Jacob' was kind of doing it for her. "Go ahead! Justify this for me!"

Captain Taylor was silent, his wide eyes fixed on his son.

"He deserves punishment." Jack growled, hoping Jacob would listen to her, "More than a fucking court-martial."

Jacob glanced at her and he nodded, pulling out his pistol as he did so.

"Yeah." He agreed, firing a bunch of rounds towards a group of encroaching hunters and forcing them away. "But I'm not going to pull the trigger. My father was a good man who owned up to his mistakes."

He handed the gun to his father, who looked at the thermal clip port and then back up and surprise.

"There's only one shot left in this clip!" He exclaimed, "That won't be enough for the crazy ones, you've seen them."

"It's not for them, _dad_." Jacob said, turning around. Miranda followed him and after a venom-filled look at Captain Taylor, Jack followed suit.

There was a long silence as they headed back towards the compound, before a single crack shattered the silence of the otherwise peaceful sounds of waves and wind. Jack saw Jacob's shoulders jump a little in response to the sound, but the cheerleader grabbed him by the hand and drew him close to her as they walked and Miranda's hand come to her ear as she called Joker and asked for a pickup and to alert the Alliance.

Jack thought back to Gerald, the man who'd given his life to save her's. She felt something she hadn't felt in years as she looked at the two in front of her.

Loneliness.


	30. Chapter 30

_**The Assassin - Dantius Towers, Illium**_  
The assassin was shrouded in darkness, the only element that could Thane Krios could truly call 'his'. It was a cold and dry night, which antagonized his condition worse than usual. The assassin kept his silence through the pain in his chest, though, as he sighted down the barrel of his sniper rifle at the pair of mercs herding a group of salarians towards a locker two hundred meters away, where they undoubtedly intended to kill them.

The air-conditioning shaft he was posted up in was highly uncomfortable, but he bore it anyways. This job was his last. He'd be removing a wicked woman from the world, which pleased him immeasurably. Even if he had nothing left, even if his wife was dead and his son estranged, he could take solace that even his last mission had

The pain was creeping up on him, not much to his surprise. Kepral's Syndrome had long been taking its toll on the assassin's body and the arid cold of the AC pipes was exacerbating it. Thane had to choke down a cough as he felt the tightness in his chest slowly spreading around to the rest of his body. He had to be still and he had to focus.

Thane would have to work fast. At his range, moving between two targets as fast as he'd need to would be difficult. There was no wind blowing throughout the partially-finished building, much to Thane's relief. It'd make the shots that much simpler. He controlled his breathing and led the first merc a little bit, to allow time for his exhale.

As soon as he finished breathing out and he was motionless, he fired.

The round cut through the air, slamming into the upper back of the batarian on the left. It wasn't a killing shot, at least not immediately. It would, however, incapacitate him long enough for Thane to move on to his partner. To Thane's vast amusement, the human mercenary immediately got down behind cover, his back to the drell assassin.

Thane took an extra moment for breathing and fired again. This shot went clear through the man's head, dropping him to the ground. The batarian on the ground was writhing, the shot to his spine keeping him from moving too much. Thane finished the moving target off with a last round to the back before taking the time to pop in a fresh thermal clip.

He put a hand to the bottom of the airway as the salarian workers scattered towards the exit, prepared to push himself up and continue his movement, when he heard the sound of gunfire nearby. The gunfire was two-sided, meaning it was a battle instead of the mercs gunning down innocent civilians. Whoever it was would probably either impede his mission or unwittingly assist him. He had to find out which.

He dropped down from the shaft, falling a full five meters before landing in a silent crouch. Seeing shadows down the hallway that led to the open plaza, he moved to a locked door with a pallet full of steel beams in front. He took cover behind it, glad to once again be cloaked in the shadows as a full team came out from around the corner.

And what a strange team they were.

The one on point was a heavily armed man, wearing yellow and white armor and holding what Thane recognized as a Mattock assault rifle. The scarring and tattoos were easily recognizable. It was a mercenary, Zaeed Massani, that he had the displeasure of dealing with on several occasions, usually on the opposing side. Somehow, they never manged to kill the other.

The second was a human woman, one that Thane knew only by Wanted Posts and Extranet videos. She was scantily clad, shaved bald and covered in tattoos. This particular piece of scum was Jack, a very notorious criminal throughout the entire galaxy. Thane wanted nothing more than to end the disgusting woman, but stayed his hand.

The third was dressed in a black and white suit with a gold logo on it that Thane instantly recognized. It was the Cerberus logo, once he had long ago learned to shoot on sight. The man himself looked mild enough, a dark-skinned human with brown eyes and who was easily shifting around the weight of a standard-issue Avenger assault rifle.

Next up was a turian who looked completely comfortable in the battle-hardened group. He was wearing blue and black armor and was hefting a Mantis sniper rifle. Something baout the way he held it told Thane that he was well-accustomed to using it. Far more interesting, though, was the ragged hole at the collar of his armor that led to a network of scars on the right side of his face. This one was unknown to him, unlike the last member of the group.

In the center of the constantly-moving formation was a familiar figure. She was tall, for a woman. A network of scars rippled across a cheek and her forehead, all of them shining red in the darkness with the glow of cybernetics. She looked fit, to say nothing of the fact she was wearing thick armor that belonged on soldiers and mercs. She was toting a Vindicator assault rifle with ease and comfort.

Commander Jane Shepard. A man in Thane's line of work took care to make himself aware of all the important persons of interest in the galaxy. Commander Shepard (and her brother, for that matter) certainly qualified as persons of interest. They were both Alliance; one of them a Spectre and the other a Marine. Both of them were incredibly deadly, possibly deadlier than Thane himself.

He couldn't imagine that she was after Nassana Dantius. Judging by the looks of the group she was with, she was on some sort of recruiting drive. Thane was willing to bet his number had come up.

But he still had a mission to finish. Nassana was up at the top of this tower and he needed to reach her. However, with Shepard and her team there, he sensed an opportunity.

He didn't make his presence known immediately, looking up and around. He found a path back to the unfinished AC shaft he'd been positioned in. He could take it between levels and maybe slip through Shepard's crew.

_I may want to avoid her entirely. _Thane reasoned. _I do not like the company she travels with. Too many types I would kill for no pay whatsoever. _

"Look here." The turian said, drawing Thane's attention as he nudged the batarian with an armored foot. "Sniper. Good one, too. Not quite me, but I'm sure he's formidable enough."

That immediately piqued Thane's interest. He knew of only a dozen documented snipers across the galaxy with skills that could rival his. Of them, only two were turian. Saren was dead, which left...

_Archangel._

He had heard of the turian's mythical marksmanship skills, tales he had chalked up merely to rumor. While he had no idea of the turian's true identity, he had heard rumors that Archangel had been blown up and killed during a mercenary siege on Omega that claimed the lives of over a hundred mercenaries. Judging from the looks of the rugged turian, it was only partly true.

Thane rethought his position. Archangel was a vigilante. It was a type of people that Thane didn't necessarily agree with, but a people he could respect. For someone like Archangel to be traveling with criminals like Jack and an organization like Cerberus, there would have to be a common enemy. A common enemy powerful enough and threatening enough to draw them all in.

_But who?_

"Judging from the angle of impact here," The turian was saying, peering at the bullet hole in the human's cover, "He was firing..."

The turian trailed off and Thane watched as he used a claw to draw a line in the air straight to the AC duct Thane had recently abandoned. The assassin found himself respecting the turian even more.

"From there." the turian finished.

"Great." Commander Shepard drawled, "He's in the ventilation, that'll make him harder to find."

Thane retraced his route back up to the AC vent before moving.

The response was as immediate as it was expected. Thane was moving too fast towards a forklift to be hit, but he heard the periodic bark of the Mattock that stopped nearly as quickly as it started.

"Krios!" He heard Zaeed yell behind him as Thane pulled himself up onto the top of the forklift. "We're just here to talk, you squirrely bastard!"

Thane had a mission that needed finishing. Then, he'd talk. He jumped for a hanging bar and gripped to it, managing enough momentum that he was able to swing higher when he let go. He caught a outcropping at the top of the wall and pulled himself up before leaping into the opening of the vent opening.

"He's fast," He heard of a drawling female voice that had to be Commander Shepard, "I'll give him that."

Thane turned to see the whole group with their weapons trained on him, completely unflinching. He had no doubts that had they wanted to kill him, they would have killed him several times over.

"If you want to talk," He told the Spectre, his voice smooth and even. "You'll have to catch me, first."

He looked up into the ventilation shaft, chest heaving slightly from exertion before looking back down at the group.

"I'll see you at the top."

He jumped high from his squatting position and grabbed onto the edge of a horizontal section. He pulled himself up before once again fading into the darkness.


	31. Chapter 31

_**The Justicar - Illium**_

The Justicar didn't even bother trying to run and catch up as the Eclipse mercs piled into their car and started it up in a desperate attempt to flee. She merely summoned up a good portion of her biotic energy as she absently stepped around the dozen or so twisted mercenary bodies on the floor. Just as the car started to lift off the ground, she unleashed the energy she'd been building.

A spectacularly large ball of blue writhing energy slammed into the car, surrounding it and stopping the car cold. With little effort, the Justicar pulled her arm back and the car careened backwards before slamming into the wall of the dock. The few civilians still left on the dock who hadn't ran when the bullets started flying apparently decided that now was the optimal time for them to flee.

Screams filled the dock as the civilians began to flee and the car slumped into the ground, nose first.

Like any predator stalking its prey, Samara smoothly strode towards the car quickly but without fear as the four mercenaries stumbled out of their vehicle, weapons coming up and aiming for the Justicar.

Samara was one of the strongest biotics that her people had. Most of the Justicar order were. She was, however, far and away the most active Justicar in their order. Still, she didn't rely on biotics alone. She was trained with an SMG and assault rifle and due to the dangers of this mission, she had chosen her assault rifle as her main weapon.

She lifted the standard issue Avenger to her cheek and barely took aim. The Avenger was her favorite model, since she favored an all-around balanced weapon rather than one that played to any particular strength.

She depressed the trigger and unleashed a sudden flow of rounds that brought down two of the Eclipse mercs within a second. Both of the asari dropped and Samara quickly pushed more power to her barriers, allowing her to be heedless of the gunfire. She fired again, dropping the third asari.

The fourth panicked and dropped her weapon, attempting to run. Samara already knew what she was going to do: exactly what the Code compelled her to do. She would capture the woman, interrogate her, then kill her. She had no hate for the woman, no intolerance. Neither did she have love or compassion. The only motive she operated on was justice.

She heard the sound of approaching police vehicles, but knew that exactly none of the police would bother her. She was a Justicar and even this far out of asari space, her word ruled above the word of the police.

She siphoned the power out of her overcharged barriers and leeched it to power she was already developing, before unleashing it on the fleeing mercenary. The woman froze in mid-step, a shimmering blue field around her and hindering any further movement from the merc.

Even with the absence of movement, Samara could hear a slight whimper from the terrified merc as she closed the distance between them smoothly. The girl looked young, maybe only approaching one hundred years old.

Samara reached her just as the stasis wore off. The merc tensed to run again, until Samara reached out and grasped her around the arm in a vice-like grip. The merc threw her fist forward in an attempt to stun the Justicar, but Samara merely stepped around behind the merc's back and planted her heel on the backside of the woman's knee. The pull on her arm and force on her knee caused the woman to buckle and swing to the floor on her face.

There was a soft crunch as her face slammed into the floor and she cried out in pain. Samara regretted that she had to do that. Despite her ruthlessness, she never intended to cause any more pain than what was absolutely necessary to deliver justice to a criminal.

"Police!" She heard someone yell behind her. Samara turned to find no fewer than a half-dozen police officers with thier weapons drawn down on her.

The Code made cooperation with the police a very clear matter. The police were to give her freedom to deal with justice as she saw fit, while cases already under their jurisdiction required that Justicars kept them apprised of any progress or situations pertaining to their cases. Since the fugitive she was tracking didn't fall under their jurisdiction, they had no right to stop her. If they attempted to arrest her, there would be...problems.

"This is Justicar business, officers." Samara informed them, planting the heel of her boot on the merc's spine to keep her down. Her announcement put the police at ease, though she saw no small amount of awe and amazement in their eyes. It was a reaction she was used to seeing and one she would never be comfortable with. She wasn't a celebrity, she was just doing what the Oath compelled her to do. "There have been no civilian casualties. I am tracking a fugitive in this city and once I have the information I need, I will depart this area."

"Affirmative." The lead cop replied with a nod. "Everyone, spread out and get the scene secured."

"Now, you." Samara directed, looking down at the merc, "Where did the fugitive go?"

"I don't know!" She yelled in terror. She knew the deal. The Justicars didn't have any problem getting rough to get the information they needed. "I heard about her, but I wasn't involved in that."

"Who was?" The asari woman asked placidly.

"I know one of the Lieutenants were." The merc answered. "Lieutenant Eredin, near the entrance port. Will you...will you let m-"

"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." Samara recited faithfully, before raising her pistol and putting a single round in the back of the merc's head. As she went limp amidst gasps from the surrounding officers, Samara looked back the way she came.

It looked like she had another group of criminals to purge.

_**Worry not, Liara fans, we'll be getting to Lair of the Shadow Broker (and Project Overlord) after the Samara/Thane missions and a quick round of loyalty missions.  
**_

_**Also, Liara will not be getting the Ashley treatment I gave in this story. Despite that, though, I did not care for Liara very much. Nothing against her character, but it seemed like the developers were almost resentful that so many people picked either Tali or Garrus and as a result, kept throwing Liara at you again and again like 'Come on. You know you want to. We worked soooo hard on her. We'll even make everything about her when Thessia is destroyed, even though everybody else's home planet has been gettin' the business far worse for far longer and they're coping just fine'.**_

_**I think Tali got the worst of it, though. She doesn't even show up until halfway through two of the games. Makes me wonder if the romantic option was more grudging than out of interest for character development. Anyways, just musings. I'll be coming back with another (longer) chapter soon enough.**_


	32. Chapter 32

_**Lieutenant Tali'Zorah vas Normandy - Illium **_

Tali was surprised when she stepped out onto the spaceport and found the area around her a complete mess. There were at least six bodies that she could count on the ground, along with a lot of civilians standing around looking absolutely shocked. The police also had a heavy presence here, with tape around certain areas of the spaceport.

"Keelah..." Tali whispered, "What happened here?"

"I don't see any blood." Kasumi noted next to her. "Biotics, perhaps?"

"The dossier said that this Justicar is a very talented biotic." Miranda pointed out from behind John. "Her skills could apparently rival Jack's."

Tali couldn't comprehend that possibility, but she supposed that an asari woman living for hundreds of years could eventually train herself up to that level of biotic power.

"I have to admit that it sounds impossible." Grunt replied, the gruff krogan speaking the words on everyone's minds. "Shitty personality, but she's one woman I would not want to end up in close quarters with."

"We need to find out more about what we're getting into." John answered. "I'd almost think we're stepping into the middle of a war, here."

"Hey!" A voice yelled. They all found themselves looking at an asari cop who looked entirely too stressed out. "Nobody's supposed to be allowed on scene! Who are you people?"

"Staff Sergeant John Shepard." John answered immediately. "I'm here to recruit the Justicar to a mission."

"Oh." The cop replied, looking taken aback. Tali was pleased that John wouldn't have to expound on their reasons for recruiting her. "Well, then, I'm Detective Anaya and you're in for a nasty surprise."

"What's that?" He asked, gesturing for her to continue on. She started walking towards a room that Tali would guess was her office.

"She's after somebody here." The detective answered, opening the door and seating herself at a small desk in the corner. She took a sip of coffee before continuing. "The Eclipse run rampant through here and our job is more to keep them from causing too many problems rather than shutting them down. Though I don't know the details, I'd imagine that the Eclipse smuggled someone through here. Somebody the Justicar is after."

"Where's the rest of the police?" Tali wondered, looking around at the empty room.

"Putting out fires." The detective grunted. "Your friend has killed dozens of Eclipse mercs in the eight hours or so she's been here."

"Just to find someone?" John asked, his mouth wide open in disbelief. Tali had to admit that she, too, was in awe of such dedication.

"You apparently don't know how Justicars work." Anaya answered, a grim look on her face. "They kill anybody they deem a criminal and they _never _stop unless their mission would put innocents at risk or they're dead. Nobody and nothing else gets in their way. And they are drawn to impossible causes."

"Ah, impossible causes." Miranda said, "We've got that covered."

"That's why I love this group." Grunt answered.

"Almost as impossible a cause as our two lovebirds up here." Kasumi chipped in.

Tali felt her cheeks immediately heat and she jerked her head around to look at Kasumi. The woman gave her an overly-innocent look.

_That meddling bosh'tet!_

After the trial, Tali had been awestruck at the speech John had made. It had moved between rage, introspection and then guilt for not treating her like he should have. Tali had been so close to telling him, too. Now she was scared. She didn't have many friends outside the fleet and after her father's experiments, she doubted she'd have many inside the fleet, too. She didn't want to lose John in any capacity.

Plus, she would be selfish to try that on John. He'd been through so much, both during the chase for Saren and before. Not to mention his own death. He deserved so much better than her. She would be a liability, at best. She had other commitments to the Flotilla and he was on a mission.

Tali loved Kasumi like she supposed one would love an older sister, but it wasn't her business.

John looked down at Kasumi with a frown and the thief immediately clammed up. Tali felt a little pleasure at the silent rebuke.

"So where can we find her?" John wondered.

"She's crusading near here." Detective Anaya answered. "If you can help her or lure her away with some big impossible mission, I'll be more than happy to let you in."

"What aren't you telling me?" John asked.

_And not to mention all of the dangers._

"My superiors want me to detain her." Anaya replied. "If I do that, she will only be able to cooperate for a set period before she's forced to fight her way out of here."

_I could get sick. _

"Then drag your heels as best as you can." John answered. "Let me see if I can solve this."

_No matter how much I want to-_

"Tali." She heard someone call. She looked up to see the rest of the group at the door, waiting for her. John had a curious expression on his face that she couldn't place.

"Y-Yes." She answered. She saw John shoot a look at Miranda and say something quietly to her. The woman nodded and the team scattered amongst the civilians, asking questions. Confused, Tali continued forward until she felt John gently grab her around the upper arm and steer her to a quiet corner.

Tali felt herself shaking from all of the conflicting emotions. She looked up and found John close and still hanging onto her arm.

"You're distracted." John pointed out. "Is it about what Kasumi said?"

Tali didn't know how he'd figured it out so quickly. He always seemed ignorant of the feelings of those around him. How could he have-

"I'll...I'll tell her to lay off." John answered, showing the first moment of hesitation Tali had seen in him for a very long time. "Don't worry about her starting rumors."

"It's not that, John." She said quietly, noticing Grunt edging over to try to get a look at them. "It's that...she..."

Tali didn't have the strength to finish the sentence, all of her doubts and worries crashing down on her and immobilizing her. She stared at the floor, unable to meet the gaze of the giant before her. John gazed at her for a moment before continuing.

"Tali." He said quietly. Tali looked up at the sound of his voice. It was soft and caring, a tone she had never heard him use in their entire history together. She saw uncertainty in his green eyes, but sensed that he was forcing himself to soldier through it. "What I said at your trial was all true. I regret the way I've treated you and the things I've been too scared to tell you."

Tali felt her eyes widening in shock.

_Keelah..._She thought to herself, _Is he..._

"It's always been duty for me." He continued. "I joined the Marines, then had to take care of Jane when our parents were killed. Then I had to accompany her to keep the galaxy from extinction. But now, I'm seeing people like me. Miranda, Zaeed, a couple others you wouldn't know. People who are so damn dedicated that it's ruining their lives. For the first time, I think I may have been wrong."

Tali felt her heart starting to pound harder and faster as he continued with a small smile on his face.

"And if there's anyone that I want to be wrong alongside, it's you." He finished, "I've spent the last week realizing how wrong I was to let you go last time an-"

Tali didn't let him finish, throwing her arms around the big man and squeezing him for all she was worth. She knew she was being selfish and knew that leading him on like this was wrong, but she couldn't stop herself. She didn't know what to say, but she still tried.

"John," She whispered, "It can't work, there's so much at stake-"

"I know you're scared, Tali." He answered, his mouth right next to her helmet. "I am too, a little. Tell you what. We make it through this mission and we'll have a longer talk about this. Just know that, for now, I want the same thing you do: Us."

Tali didn't trust herself to speak, but just nodded as he gently pried her off and gazed back into her eyes.

"You gonna be good to be focused?" He asked.

"Y-yes." Tali stuttered, feeling like an idiot that she was stumbling all over her words. She felt like she had something to hide, now. "I will, John. I mean, Staff Sergeant. Shepard. Sir."

John looked greatly amused at her struggle but saved her nonetheless.

"Just John." He answered. "Nothing's changed, there. Let's go."

They swung out into the busy dock again and were both met by a smiling Kasumi, who had arms crossed as she stared down the couple.

"So." She said, sounding like she was on the verge of laughter as her dark eyes glittered from beneath her hood, "Grunt just hugged me and then asked what that meant when a woman did it to a man. I don't suppose you two know anything about that?"

"We need to keep moving." John answered, much to Tali's relief. "I see Miranda up at the police line, let's get over there."

"Good for you, Shep."She answered with a smirk before turning and heading towards a waiting Miranda. Tali couldn't help but feel a little bit of pride when she saw the woman.

_He wants me. _Tali thought to herself giddily, _Not Miranda, not Ashley, not Liara, not one of the many women that have indicated an interest. Me._

"Like herding cats." John muttered. Tali didn't understand what he meant, but laughed anyways. She felt giddy, amazed that everything had come together so perfectly.

"I heard that!" Kasumi yelled from up ahead.

"I know."

When they were all gathered, John looked around.

"So we're moving in on a woman who may very well not want to come with us." John said, "We need to be prepared for that possibility and if she won't join, we need to move out of her range quickly. I don't know if we'd rate on her 'worth killing' list."

"Looks like tight quarters." Tali observed, glancing into the network of passageways.

"That it does." John agreed. "Grunt and I will be up front. Miranda and Tali will be behind us. Kasumi, you stay in the rear and look for opportunities to flank, if you can."

"Got it." Kasumi answered. Tali noticed that John seemed faintly annoyed with Kasumi and she had the feeling it hadn't slipped the thief's notice, either. The woman looked the slightest bit wary of the Marine.

They moved past the police line and into the hallway. It was cluttered with crates and undelivered shipments, but as they moved, Tali was forced to maneuver out of the way of bodies lying all over the ground. Some were riddled with rounds, while others were simply twisted in a grotesque but quick flash of death.

After a few minutes of quietly creeping and finding nothing but dead bodies, John suddenly came to a halt ahead of her. Tali stopped as she watched him move past Grunt and peer down a corner. He stood there for a moment, before coming back to the group.

"Five mercs." He said. His gaze lingered on Tali for a moment and she felt another smile coming on. "Get ready."

Tali hefted her Eviscerator and followed behind John as he moved past the corner, raising the powerful Paladin pistol and squeezing off a pair of shots at an unseen enemy. Tali switched to getting behind Grunt as he moved forward, allowing her room to sight down on the targets.

Two asari mercenaries and a trio of mercs stood outside a door. Their attack on the group's flank had been a complete surprise. Tali decided to draw on her best abilities. Mainly, her tech skills.

She had programs preloaded on her omni-tool for occasions like these. She activated it and switched to an area overload program. A pulse of electricity resonated from the omni-tool and passed over the mechs as they started to turn. One of them exploded from overheating due to the overloading of its circuits and wires. The other two were halted and their bodies were wracked with small arcs of electricity as they doubled over, their systems trying to compensate.

As Miranda threw one asari aside with a throw, Kasumi and John opened fire on the mechs. Mordin simply emptied his SMG out towards the mercs, keeping them from being able to fire back. Grunt took this as permission to engage the leader of the group, who wheeled to face the charging Krogan far too late as he picked her up and flung her over the rails at the end of the walkway. Tali heard her screams fade as the rest of the group fell under their firepower.

"Nice." John praised the group, "I don't think we gave them an opportunity to fire."

He opened the door and Tali saw him flinch right before a merc plowed into him from midair. Tali started to bring her weapon up as the pair rolled to the ground.

"Gah!" John yelled in surprise as they came to a stop. He shoved the woman off him and Tali was surprised to find that she was dead.

"My apologies." She heard a deep, sultry woman's voice apologize from the room the body had been flung from.

Tali grabbed John by the hand and helped him up as the rest of the crew moved into the room. When the two joined the rest of the crew, Tali was amazed by the woman standing in front of them.

She was wearing what could be closely referred to as a red catsuit. It covered her body tightly, leaving very little to the imagination. Her skin was of a lighter blue hue than Tali had seen in most Asari, which she'd chalk up to age. Wide blue eyes assessed them in turn, though Tali noticed those eyes linger on her a little longer than most. A red metal crest of sorts adorned her brow line.

Tali could tell from looking at her that the woman was powerful, maybe even more powerful than Jack. While she didn't look ravaged from age, Tali could just sense a long-formed wisdom and serenity in the woman that told her the asari had to be several centuries old. If not close to a thousand.

"I see five well-armed strangers before me," She announced quietly. Tali noticed a shimmering blue covering the woman and also noticed that she hadn't put away her Avenger assault rifle. "Fresh from gunning down a group at the door. What are your intentions?"

"I'm Staff Sergeant Shepard." John introduced, stepping forward and slightly closing the distance between him and the Justicar. "My sister and I are assisting Cerberus in taking down the Collectors. The Collectors have been abducting human colonists by the hundreds of thousands and we're getting ready for a suicide mission to their base. My sister, Commander Shepard, needs the best. You're one of the people on our list."

Tali was surprised when the stoic woman let a reserved smile emerge on her lips.

"I sense the truth of your words." She said, "And they humble me. My name is Samara. I am afraid I cannot join, right now. I am tracking a fugitive who was smuggled off world by these mercenaries. After I find her, I will be willing to leave with you."

"I really wish you'd go with the human, Justicar." Someone said behind them. Tali turned to see Detective Anaya at the doorway. "I'm going to need to take you into custody."

"You risk a great deal, Detective." Samara answered serenely. "Fortunately, I will not have to resist. However, in twenty-four hours, I will be leaving your custody."

"I won't be able to release you that quickly." The detective answered uncomfortably.

"You won't be able to stop me." Samara answered calmly. The completely serene undertone of her voice unnerved Tali. The quarian knew then that, if the Justicar so chose, she would kill everybody in that police office and walk right out without a care.

"Woah." John said, putting his hands up in an attempt to force himself into the conversation, "There has to be a way to get what we all need."

"There is a way." Samara answered, her blue gazed swinging to John. "Shepard, the leader of these sisters, Captain Wasea, is holed up near here. She'll have the information I need. You get me the name of the ship the fugitive flew out on and I'll leave police custody and join you."

"Just like that?" John wondered.

"Staff Sergeant." Samara answered, "If I do not get that name in time, I will be compelled to break out of police custody. I will be forced to kill many innocents. I would prefer to avoid this outcome."

"Yeah, no kidding." Kasumi answered quietly.

"Then we'll get that name." John assured Samara.

"Thank you, Shepard." She answered, before letting the detective guide her away.

"Well," Miranda said aloud, "At least this mission is pretty straightforward."

"C'mon." John told the group.

He swept out of the room and they got back into formation. Tali couldn't help but feel perturbed by Samara. The woman was absolutely deadly, of that she had no doubt. However, she was more than a little unsettled by the woman's willingness to kill innocents simply because her code demanded it.

There was little resistance through the sprawling complex. Tali supposed that had something to do with the fact that Samara had killed most of the Eclipse when they'd tried to stop her from breaching their perimeter.

Tali continually felt her gaze pulled to John as they swept through the base. She still couldn't believe the conversation they had before meeting Samara. She felt like nothing could bring down her mood.

At least, until they found Captain Wasea.

She stood behind a desk, looking at reports calmly. The room was massive, clearly some sort of warehouse. Tali noticed crates of Red Sand covering the floors, which would make this fight much more treacherous.

It also didn't help that there were at least twenty Eclipse shoved into the big room. Some were mechs while others were heavily armored asari. Tehre were also a good percentage of lightly-armored mercs.

When they entered the room, Captain Wasea looked up, the asari woman narrowing her eyes.

"Everything's gone to hell since we shipped that filthy creature off-world." She complained, "First the Justicar shows up and kills nearly all of my people and now I've got specialists kicking down my door. I may not have been able to kill the Justicar, but I _will _kill you."

John answered exactly the way Tali thought he would. He raised his Avenger and opened fire on the asari, beginning to strafe towards a crate. Tali tossed a small metal ball out of her pocket.

"Nothing's faster than Chatika vas Paus!" She yelled.

Chatika was her drone. She'd spent the years since John's death perfecting and upgrading Chatika. He'd grown so formidable, that Tali had once entered him in a massive Flotilla tournament for the engineers. Each engineer had put forward their own drone. Out of the thousands that had entered, Chatika had gone undefeated and reigned supreme. It had been a proud moment.

The ball floated through the air and orange tech armor suddenly popped out of it in a spherical shape, twisting around the ball.

As the gunfire and biotics began to fly, Tali focused on a group of three LOKI mechs that were trying to edge around and get a shot at Miranda. While Tali would've taken a little pleasure in seeing the Cerberus Operative get winged, she certainly needed to keep the XO protected.

She threw out another area overload. Chatika, attracted to the signature of her omni-tool, glided over to the mechs and began to discharge large bursts of electricity, destroying each of them in turn.

Satisfied that the mechs were being dealt with, Tali turned her attention to the rest of the battle. Already, a few of the mercs had been taken down, though they had fallen into cover and were now taking shots from behind their cover.

Tali had gone more or less unnoticed, the mercs preferring to work on the bigger threats.

"We need to move up!" John yelled. "Grunt, g-AHH!"

Tali felt a moment of panic when she heard the cry of pain. She looked over to find John clutching onto his arm, his weapon hanging limp from his hand. She could see blood starting to seep through his fingers. She had no doubts that his firing hand was unusable. He looked around and Tali saw his eyes meet hers'. She gave him a nod as he ducked behind cover, a torrent of rounds replacing the area his head had been a second ago.

"Grunt! Tali!" He yelled, "Forward!"

Tali came out around the corner of the pillar she hid behind. She started running, drawing her Eviscerator shotgun from its holster as she did so. Miranda, Mordin and Kasumi picked up the pace of fire, forcing the mercs to keep their heads down.

Tali slid behind a crate that flanked the merc's lines. She opened fire on the merc on the end, dropping him to the ground.

Grunt wasn't as...subtle.

Instead of taking a position on the flank of the bunkered-down mercs, he merely leaped over the cover of one of them and fired his shotgun into the startled man. Tali popped out for another shot and flinched when she saw the nearest merc aiming right for her.

A blue ball of biotic energy slammed into him, the force hard enough that it snapped the man's neck and killed him instantly.

"Thanks!" Tali yelled grudgingly as she pumped another round into yet another merc.

"No problem!" Miranda yelled back.

Tali suddenly realized that in all of the confusion, she'd forgotten about Chatika. She readied another overload and hit a few mercs near Grunt. The shock did nothing for them, but it did attract Chatika, who started unloading those electrical blasts again.

Tali's moment of ingenuity was over when something slammed into her back. She cried out as she tumbled over her crate and onto her back.

Captain Wasea was on top of her, the heavily armored asari bloodied but angry. Tali balled her fist up to hit the woman, but the attack had taken her by surprise and the woman was already ready to fight. The asari balled up a fist and slammed it into Tali's helmet.

Tali felt panic as a large spiderweb of cracks appeared directly on the front of her helmet. The woman's armored fist was more than hard enough to get through and she knew it. Tali couldn't see past the damage, but she heard a gunshot and then a weight on her.

"Tali!" She heard John yell distantly.

She didn't hear the alarm subsystem built in her suit to make her aware there'd been a breach.

_She didn't get through. _Tali realized, relieved.

"I'm okay." Tali answered, shoving the body off her. She still couldn't see around the cracks. A hand grabbed each of hers and pulled her up.

"That looks nasty." Kasumi said from right next to her.

"We need to get you to a clinic, quick." John said, "Don't want you-"

"Don't worry, John." She assured him, a little touched by his concern, "The damage wasn't enough to breach my suit. I can't exactly see where I'm going, but I won't be having any reactions."

"We'll take care of you." Miranda promised her. She felt a slim but strong hand wrap around her upper arm. "Staff Sergeant, how bad is the wound?"

"I'll be fine." He answered. "Chakwas should be able to handle it. Grunt, you find anything over there?"

"Yeah." Grunt replied. "Got the name. AMS Demeter."

"Good." John said, "Let's get back to the station, then."

Tali felt a little bit embarrassed that Kasumi and Miranda were holding her by the arms and guiding her around. She didn't feel any pain and was far more concerned about John's injury than the damage to her mask.

When they got back to the station, Tali could feel the tension, even though she couldn't see it. She had no doubts that Samara was there, unnerving everybody in the office as her presence reminded them that she would kill them all if John didn't succeed.

"We got it." John announced, "The AMS Demeter. Left yesterday around eighteen-hundred."

"I'm impressed, Shepard." Samara's voice answered. "I am sorry that you and yours were injured during the...shouldn't she be at a clinic?"

Tali assumed the comment was directed at her, so she answered.

"No." Tali assured the Justicar, "I can't see past the damage, but the damage wasn't deep enough to let contamination in. I'll be able to repair it on the ship."

"Then I will swear my Oath to your service." Samara answered.

"It would be better if you swore yourself to my sister." John said, stopping her. "She's the one in charge."

"Very well." Samara said, "What dock are you at?"

"Echo-Seven." John replied.

"Understood." She answered, "I will gather my belongings and be on your ship soon."

Tali heard footsteps, followed by tapping on an omni-tool.

"Jane?" She heard John say. "Yeah, I know you're busy, but listen. When you meet the Justicar, make sure you're the first one to meet her. Don't let her see Jack. Or Garrus...or the assassin."

There was a moment of silence, then he spoke again.

"In fact, it's best if you leave the team behind, when you meet her."

_**Sorry for the weird order of chapters. I realized after the Samara/Thane chapters that I should've switched the order of the two, so I'm making up for it here.**_

_**By the way, the reason people die easier in this story than the games (where they have impenetrable shields and such), is in the interest of my writing style. I prefer the fights to be done in at least some amount of detail, so I don't want to spend six paragraphs describing one firefight. That'll be especially important IF I decide to do Mass Effect 3, which introduced us to the bullet sponges.**_


	33. Chapter 33

_**Garrus Vakarian - Illium**_

The turian wasn't exactly too enthused about the man they were chasing. He'd shown up, more or less told Jane that he wanted her to cause a distraction so he could slip through and assassinate some bitch of a woman. While Garrus could understand playing it smart, he though the man should've been able to stand on his own two feet.

_Then again, _Garrus hedged as he easily loosed a round down the corridor that turned a merc's head into a pulpy mass, _An assassin isn't exactly meant for combat against entire companies of mercs and mechs._

Jane was in his scope and he inwardly sighed as he once again felt his eyes drawn to her. He had no idea why he was suddenly so fixated on her. Something had changed after the meeting with Sidonis. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he constantly found himself glancing over at her and finding excuses to talk to her.

Jack ended the battle when she threw a warp so strong that it caved in a merc's chest. Garrus moved out of his position at the end of the corridor and started forward, behind the rest of the group.

"Man, you got it bad." Jacob said quietly from Garrus' left. He turned to the Cerberus soldier, a little surprised that the man was being so blunt. Then again, Jacob had always struck him as a brutally honest man. "That's four times in the last three firefights you've paused in the middle of a fight to look at her."

"You noticed?" Garrus asked. The man just nodded. "I don't know what it is. Something's different since the whole deal with Sidonis."

"No kidding." Jacob answered. "You got a thing for her."

"I do-"

"It's cool, man." Jacob assured Garrus as they turned a corner and into a partially finished lobby leading to an elevator, "I'm not judging. I know she feels the same way."

"She say something?" Garrus asked, eager and curious despite himself.

Jacob was about to answer when a shot was fired up front. Garrus moved into cover, with Jacob right next to him.

From another room, mercs were flooding out, with LOKI mechs in the back for support. Garrus sighted in and aimed in on a merc who was crouching behind cover.

"No!" Jacob yelled over the noise. Garrus saw a writhing blue ball of energy fly past his scope, slamming into an unwary mech and tossing it to the floor. "The way she looks at you, Vakarian!"

Garrus fired, the carefully aimed bullet tearing through the armor in the man's chest and lodging in the center. It wasn't an immediate killshot, but it'd keep the merc down.

_The way she looks at me... _Garrus thought to himself. He looked up from the scope to find Jane looking directly at him, a smile on her face. _Strange._

Garrus drew his attention back to the battle to find a mech moving around the flank to get a shot in at Jack's side. The convict was too busy throwing around a pair of mercs to notice. Garrus took a second to make sure his aim wasn't off and fired. With a shower of sparks, the mech's head was blown clear of its body.

Jack flinched at the shot and turned to see the mech falling to the ground. She glanced back to see Garrus covering her.

"Thanks!" Jack yelled.

_She's certainly...I guess 'mellowed' isn't the right word. _Garrus considered, _But she's certainly a little less abrasive that when we first met her. _

Garrus didn't acknowledge the thanks, too busy with moving to a merc crouching next to Jane. He fired and disabled the man with a bullet to the shoulder. Jane finished him off with a spray of rounds from her Vindicator.

The battle ended and Jane instantly snapped out orders.

"Zaeed." She commanded, drawing the old merc's attention, "Garrus and I will make sure nobody gets at your back through the elevator. Go check out that room over there, I thought I heard movement."

"Roger that." Zaeed answered, ushering the team towards a door off to the side.

Garrus was confused about why, exactly, she wanted help guarding an elevator when somebody with a shotgn or SMG would've been a much better choice. At least, he was confused until the rest of the team got out of earshot. Jane sidled up next to him, her emerald eyes on his ice colored ones.

"I notice that you seem to be getting a little distracted, Garrus." She said, her voice taking on a peculiar lilt. "Any particular reason?"

"Just watching your ass, Jane." He answered without thinking.

She arched an eyebrow and Garrus immediately realized his mistake.

"Protecting it, I mean." He said, "I meant that-"

"Relax, Garrus." Jane ordered him softly. "I know what you meant. You know, you've come a long way since we first met. I was thinking that, next time we stop on the Citadel, you and I could go get a drink."

_I bet Vether never has these problems. _Garrus thought to himself, thinking of the battle-hardened turian in charge of STT Zeta.

"Right." He answered, surprised. He was so sure she'd want to talk about something more important. "I'll get John and Tali there, I'm sure they could use the off time. Joker will probably want to g-"

"Just you." Jane clarified. "We'll have a few drinks, have some fun and maybe...see where it leads."

Garrus was confused. Was she saying what he thought she was?

"I...didn't realize that you had a weakness for men with scars." He said, not sure what he should say.

"Maybe I have a weakness for you." She answered, smiling. He felt her hand slide into his and looked down, startled. "Garrus, if I'm making you uncomfortable, you can just tell me."

Garrus instantly felt guilty for his hesitation and the effect it'd had on Jane. He wasn't opposed to the idea, he was just worried of assuming the wrong thing and creating a wedge between himself and Jane.

Truth was, the idea sounded amazing. There was no woman in the galaxy he respected more and even given the differences between them, he'd be willing to admit that he found her physically attractive.

It was something more than that, though. She'd done so much for him and he'd never found himself trusting or caring for a woman more than he trusted and cared for Jane. He didn't even know if it was what had happened with Sidonis, but even though he'd been somewhat attached to her during the hunt for Saren, it had never been as strong and obvious as it was now.

"Jane." He answered, lifting her hand and covering it with his other gloved claw. "You should never worry about making me uncomfortable. Nervous, yes. Uncomfortable, no. And when we do take our next trip to the Citadel, let's get that damn drink."

She smiled widely and Garrus looked back up to see the rest of the crew coming back. A group of a dozen salarians were running out of the room, following the path of dead bodies from the way they'd came.

"A bunch of workers." Zaeed informed them as the rest of the group neared. "Don't know who this bitch in charge is, Shepard, but I don't like her."

"I'm surprised to hear you say that, Massani." Jacob growled.

"Why?" He asked, the old mercenary seeming genuinely surprised. "Because I'm a merc? I kill people for a living, Taylor, but I don't kill civilians unless there's no other way to get a job done, understand?"

"How much you want to bet there are people waiting on that elevator?" Jane asked, gesturing to the elevator. Garrus could tell that she was intentionally changing the subject.

"Soon as we call it down, more'n likely." Zaeed admitted.

"Then let's tear apart whatever's in there." Jack answered with a shrug. Garrus liked the sentiment. "Just unload."

"Not a bad idea." Jane replied, sounding pensive. "Okay. Jack and Jacob, I want a biotic explosion in there. Garrus and Zaeed, switch to your assault rifles and be prepared to spray down whatever is in there. I'll toss a frag and hopefully, that'll do the trick."

Garrus took cover behind a shipment of beams and waited as everyone got into position. Jane sidled up to the control and pressed it, calling down the elevator. Then she dashed back, sliding into cover next to Garrus as he pulled out his Avenger. He saw Zaeed doing the same to his right.

"It's nice to cut loose." He told Jane.

"Slow down, Garrus." she replied with a chuckle, "I was just talking a drink,_ then _we'll see."

"Oh!" Jack started from behind her crate, "Did he finally work up the balls to ask?"

He was spared from an answer when a loud tone informed them that the elevator had arrived.

"Mezzanine." A pleasant female voice announced. "Have a nice day."

The door opened and they found themselves faced with a big krogan in heavy armor, along with four lightly-armored mercs.

Nobody hesitated. Jack summoned a writhing spiral of biotic energy that swirled through the air in the elevator. A concentrated shot of biotic energy from Jacob detonated it, causing a violent blast of biotic energy that threw everyone in the elevator around. Garrus and Zaeed began spraying down the mercs, doing their best to evenly disperse amongst the enemies. Finally, Jane tossed in a frag grenade that detonated under the krogan, sending shrapnel flying throughout the small elevator and tearing the weakened enemies to pieces.

There was a silence, interrupted by a small cough from Jacob.

"So..." Garrus said, "I think that did it."

"That was fucking glorious." Jack said.

They kicked all the bodies out of the elevator to make sure they didn't overload it and pushed the button for the very top floor. They'd be able to cross there and make it to the second tower, where Nassana and Thane would be waiting.

"So." Jane said in the quiet elevator as it started to ascend, "Gardner's been cooking some decent meals lately."

"Relatively." Jack grunted. "I mean...it couldn't have gotten worse."

Everyone agreed heartily, but the conversation ended when the elevator doors opened again and they were treated to the sight of a wide lobby patrolled by six mercs.

They slowly worked their way through the towers. The mercenaries were surprisingly efficient, but they were somehow more worried about the assassin than they were about the squad of armed soldiers that were sweeping through the towers. It was a very smooth set of battles, until they got to the bridge.

"I...don't like the looks of all that." Jacob muttered as they stood at the foot of the bridge. Garrus had to agree.

The bridge spanning the two towers looked unsafe to even stand on, much less have a vicious battle on. Worse, there were still construction materials littering the bridge, making some sections even more narrow than they already were. Lastly, there was the fact that there were no rails or any sort of device to keep anyone from falling over the side.

"So..." Jane started, "Let's all be very careful on this one, huh?"

"No need to tell me twice." Jack replied.

They started across the bridge in pairs. Not much to his surprise, Garrus and Jack were the last pair. Garrus would guess that Jane wanted Jack in the back to possibly use her biotics to keep people from falling off.

"Finally stopped being a pussy and asked her, huh?" Jack asked.

"She asked me, actually-" Garrus started.

"That's so sad."

"And how does everyone seem to know about this?"

"C'mon, Garrus." Jack replied, sounding smug, "Are you really that stupid?"

They were interrupted halfway across the bridge. A whole squad of mercs started advancing front the front. Garrus would guess them at about a dozen strong, maybe more.

Zaeed and Jacob were up front and they immediately slid into cover. Jane moved towards a mountain of haphazardly stacked crates and got behind it as Garrus slipped in behind a construction truck.

He didn't bother with the mercs on the bridge. He was far more concerned about the mercs up on the second level at the end of the bridge. From their vantage point, they were managing to keep Zaeed and Jacob down.

"Get the guys up there!" Garrus yelled to Jack, indicating the three mercs on the second level.

Garrus propped his rifle up on the truck and looked through the scope. He decided to take the one on the far left. The turian gazed through his scope, carefully lining up his shot as a warp from Jack forced another's head down. Garrus fired, the round catching the merc in the chest and dropping him.

Garrus switched to another target as Jack pulled the second man off the floor and let him float off and past the bridge. As Garrus lined up his shot, he had to wonder what was going through the man's mind as he looked down at the perilous drop that awaited him.

Garrus fired again, this time managing to put the round directly into the merc's face. The mercenary dropped and the second level at the end of the bridge was cleared.

This made things very easy for Jane, Jacob and Zaeed. Zaeed and Jane were superior marksmen and Jacob was excellent at using biotics on the frontline. They began to work on the remaining mercs, when a pair of drones joined the fight.

They didn't even have time to react to the drones. While Jack worked on one, Garrus started aiming down on the other. He couldn't shoot before it got a rocket off, though.

Right at Jane.

"Jane!" He yelled in a panic.

Thankfully, Jane saw it and managed to dive out of the way. Her momentum, however, carried her out towards the edge of the bridge.

Garrus didn't think, leaping over the end of the truck and sliding towards the rolling human. He managed to grasp onto her shoulder just before she went over. Lucky for her, Garrus was a lot heavier than her when he had his armor on. With the screech of metal on metal, his armor ground against the bridge as he slowed, then stopped.

Jane looked up at him, her green eyes amused. He didn't know how she was here, hanging by a piece of her armor over certain death, yet looking for all the world like he'd just told a funny joke. She arched a crimson eyebrow at him, completely unconcerned with the ground being over a thousand meters below.

"My hero." She chuckled.

Garrus was strong, but not strong enough to pull her fully-armored form up by himself. He looked around urgently and managed to catch Jacob's eye.

"I got you!" Jacob yelled. The Cerberus soldier rushed to the edge of the bridge while under fire. Garrus heard Zaeed picking up the pace of fire behind him and heard the familiar sound of a shockwave as Jack stepped up the biotics.

Jacob reached a hand down and snagged one of Jane's flailing hands. Between the two of them, they managed to hoist Jane back up to the bridge. Jane didn't look the slightest bit flustered as she picked up her Vindicator and put a three-round burst into the last merc. She went down with a cry and the bridge went quiet.

"Well," Garrus said, "That was a bit much."

"Let's move." Jane replied, "We're almost there."

They finished their journey across the bridge and encountered minor resistance from a few entrenched mercs at the door. Jack and Jacob easily cleared them out of the way, using biotics to toss them off the building.

Jane opened the door and they were treated to the sight of a circular office overlooking the city. In the center of the office was a desk, behind which stood Nassana Dantius and three armed mercs. The asari woman straightened in surprise when she saw Jane.

"Shepard?" She wondered, clearly surprised. "I thought you were dead."

"She got better." Garrus answered for Jane.

"I bet you find all of this amusing." Nassana growled. Garrus noticed that the two mercs looked incredibly jumpy. He couldn't blame them. From what they'd seen near the entrance, Thane seemed to be everything Garrus had figured he would be. "First you kill my sister, now me."

"I'm not after you, Nassana." Jane answered. "I'm after the guy who's hunting you."

The asari's eyes widened and Garrus knew what was coming even before she said it.

"Then how much would it take you to protect me?"

There was a thud in a corner of the room that was clearly coming from the ventilation pipes overhead. The mercs headed for that area, guns at the ready. The sound hadn't been of someone crawling, though. Garrus could tell that it was more like something had been dropped or-

_Something was thrown._

"All the money in the galaxy can't make this problem go away." Jane replied.

Someone dropped from the shaft right behind the mercs, who'd been lured in the wrong direction. The shadowy figure quickly snapped the neck of the first merc and grabbed her gun as she fell. As the second merc turned, he fired directly into the side of her head before spinning around and shooting Nassana in the stomach. The woman fell with a grunt, but Thane caught her and lowered her gently onto her desk.

As she breathed her last, Thane stopped and folded his hands together. He bowed his head in what was clearly prayer as Garrus raised his weapon and took him in.

The drell was of average height, with green skin that reminded Garrus of a bright leaf. He was built thin, clearly to assist him in his work. He was wearing some sort of jacket with a high collar and long gloves on his hands. His eyes were black, save for small and dark green pupils. It was hard to see any more details, as the setting sun outside the window was casting the assassin in shadow.

"That was quite an entrance." Jane said.

The drell ignored her, much to Garrus' annoyance.

"I apologize." He answered, his voice smooth and soothing, "But prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken."

"Are you sure she's worth it?" Jane asked.

"Not for her." Thane answered, "but for myself."

He looked up and slowly wound his way across the desk towards Jane. Zaeed and Garrus both edged closer to her, weapons out. The assassin stopped and looked between the two of them.

Garrus was surprised by the look in the drell's eyes. They were...vacant. It was like nobody was there. No emotion, good or bad.

"'The measure of individuals can be difficult to ascertain on actions alone, Commander Shepard." Thane said. Garrus wasn't surprised he knew who she was. He wasn't even surprised that he and Zaeed knew each other. Shepard's group consisted of the most elite killer and professionals in the galaxy. "Take you, for instance. You travel with mercenaries, mass murderers and-I suspect- a vigilante."

Garrus straightened in surprise. He had no idea how the drell had discerned hiis identity, but he kept quiet. This conversation wasn't his to get involved in.

"All this death and destruction," Thane continued, "Just for a chance to speak with me. Well, here I am. What would you like to discuss?"

"The Collectors are abducting entire colonies." Jane answered. "We're planning to hit 'em hard and I need a team of the best. You're on that list."

"I see." He said. "I mean you no harm, Commander. Your team can put their weapons down."

Jane looked at Garrus and gave him a nod. He lowered the Avenger uneasily. He didn't like that a man that proficient in hand-to-hand combat was so close to Jane.

_I suppose she could handle him. _Garrus hedged. _At least long enough for us to grab him._

The assassin turned to the window, hands behind his back as he stared at the dusky yet glimmering skyline of Illium.

"Attacking the Collectors would require passing through the Omega Four Relay." Thane pointed out. "Nobody's come back from doing so."

"They say it's a suicide mission." Jane agreed. "I intend to prove them wrong."

"You have built a career on performing the impossible." Thane conceded. "Low survival odds don't concern me. Your missing colonists do."

There was a small silence as Thane bowed his head. Garrus looked at Jane and then back at the drell.

"I'm dying." He announced somberly. "I have a disease of the terminal persuasion."

"I'm sorry." Jane said, closing in behind the drell. "Is there anything we can do?"

"No." He answered, turning to look at the Commander. Garrus also moved a little closer to the pair. Just in case. "Many died here today because I wasn't fast enough. I must atone for that."

He stuck a hand out to Jane, who regarded him in surprise.

"I will work for you, Shepard." He answered.

There was a thoughtful silence as Jane shook his hand, then he added:

"No charge."


	34. Chapter 34

_**Staff Sergeant John Shepard – Normandy SR-2**_

John had never felt as awkwardly uncomfortable as he did right now. He wanted to speak to Tali, more than anything. She, however, needed some space and time to process everything.

With Jane and Kasumi down on that paradise of a planet pulling off a heist, John had little to do. So, he was cleaning his weapon in the armory, which Jacob had been more than happy to share with him.

It was an odd feeling, for John. He'd never truly loved a woman before, but he was pretty sure that Tali was the closest he'd ever come. He didn't know what it was about her, if it was because she was so adorably endearing or the fiery brashness she occasionally displayed.

John had asked what Jacob was working on when he'd entered the armory. Apparently, Jacob was sketching out some sort of armor improvements to the Normandy, citing the destruction of the original Normandy as a reason to upgrade. He'd told Jacob that he had all the resources they had to get it done.

"So, Staff Sergeant." Jacob started. John almost groaned, not willing to engage in the gossip that went around the Normandy. "I was out in the Terminus systems for a bit when I was with the Corsairs. I don't suppose you ever saw combat out that way?"

John sighed with relief, glad that Jacob was sticking to a much more comfortable topic.

"I was always more on the batarian and human border." John admitted. He found a topic he wanted to speak about. "I hear you helped pull my sister off the side of a bridge on Illium?"

"Vakarian was the one who caught her." Jacob answered with a shrug. "I just helped him pull her up."

"Still," John said, not fooled by the man's humbleness, "I appreciate it."

"Staff Sergeant." EDI's voice suddenly broke in, drawing his attention, "Vakarian would like to speak with you down in the main battery."

"Looks like I'm needed." John grunted. "I'll be back up."

"Have fun, Staff Sergeant." Jacob answered.

John moved down onto the Crew Deck, passing a few Cerberus engineer as he went. When he made it to the batteries, he was surprised to find Garrus wringing his claws anxiously.

"John." He said, sounding supremely nervous, "I'm glad you're here. We need to talk. About Jane."

That immediately piqued his interest. He couldn't imagine what Jane had done that had gotten Garrus so thoroughly worried.

"Yeah," John said, "What's up?"

"See, Jane has suggested that she and I…ah…go get a drink on the Citadel sometime."

"So?" John asked, nonplussed.

"She wanted to see where it went, after that." Garrus finished quietly.

John immediately knew what this was. He nearly laughed at the turian's anxiety, until he realized that he had a job to do, as Jane's brother.

"I don't have a problem with it, if that's what you're after." John answered with a shrug. He knew Garrus well enough to know that the tension was fleeing from the vigilante's face. "You're a very good friend and I think you two would be great for each other."

"Thank you, John." He started, his voice speaking volumes of relief. "I was wor-"

"But she is my sister." John warned Garrus, his voice growing several times colder and serious. "You and I may be good friend, but if you hurt her, I will deliver a beating to you so brutal that it'll make what happened to your face seem like a massage by comparison. We understand each other?"

"Perfectly." Garrus answered, undaunted by the big man's promise. "Trust me, John, I care about your sister more than even I realized."

"Let's not get all soft." John said, raising a hand to forestall Garrus' monologue. "God knows I'm having enough problems with that as it is."

"Yeah," Garrus said, "Kasumi mentioned something about you and our quarian engineer."

"Of course she did." John answered sourly.

"But on a more business-related front," Garrus started, "I might have a lead on some contractors who'll be able to upgrade the Normandy's cannons."

"We could use it." John told the turian, "If we're hitting a species this advanced, we'll need all the firepower we can get. You have my permission to dip into our resource stockpile to get the guns upgraded."

"Good." Garrus said, the turian smiling, "I should get back to my calibrations. Thanks for the permission. For the guns and...Jane, I guess."

"Not a problem." John replied, walking out of the batteries. He hated to admit it, but he felt a little bit of relief on Jane's behalf. The woman had been alone for a long time and while John wasn't exactly trying to find her a better half, he didn't pretend he wasn't worried about her lack of a personal life.

_I should visit around with some of the crew, while I'm here. _John thought to himself. _Maybe talk to a few people I haven't said much to._

He decided that already on the crew deck, he might as well introduce himself to their resident assassin. He headed for the life control support room, where he'd heard the assassin was making his home.

Thane was sitting quietly in a corner when John walked in. The assassin looked up at him as John looked around. Thane hadn't even made a home in the area. No personal effects, not even furniture beyond a table and a cot.

"Ah, Staff Sergeant." The assassin said. His voice was smooth and exceedingly calm. "I was wondering if we would meet anytime soon."

"I like to check in and make sure everyone's doing well." John answered. "How're you settling in?"

"It's…strange." Thane answered as John sat down across from him. "I'm used to occupying the dark corners of the galaxy, isolated from the rest of society."

"You might learn to like some of the crew." John informed the drell, "Many of them are every bit as deadly as you are."

"That remains to be seen." Thane disagreed. "Archangel and Jack…maybe. I wouldn't want to face off against either of them."

"Trust me," John said with a chuckle, "Jack would get in your face in a fight, but you'd never see Garrus."

"Ah." Thane replied, "That's his name, then."

"Scuttlebutt tells me you're terminal?" John asked curiously.

"Yes." The assassin confirmed. "Kepral's Syndrome. It interferes with the blood's ability to carry oxygen. It's non-communicable, so you have no need to worry about it affecting the crew."

"Is there a cure?" John wondered.

"No." Thane answered. "The hanar are working on a genetic adaptation, but it is doubtful they will finish before my time has come."

"Is there anything we can do?" John asked, "Obviously, not about the disease, but anything else?"

"I am as comfortable as I can be." The drell assured the Marine, "Do not worry, if it gets worse, you will know."

"Alright." John said, standing up. "I should continue my rounds."

"Shepard." Thane replied, standing with him and holding a hand out. "It's been good to speak to another."

"Get out there, Thane." John answered, shaking the assassin's hand. "Go talk to some of the crew. Trust me, you'll enjoy it."

"I'll think about it." The drell conceded, before John walked out.

He decided to see Zaeed, next. He'd had little face time with the old mercenary and honestly found himself curious about the man.

So he took the elevator down to the Engineering level. Before he visited with Zaeed, he checked in with their engineers. He was relieved to see that Tali wasn't there. He wasn't quite prepared for a conversation with her. He was still reeling from what happened on Illium.

"Staff Sergeant." Ken greeted, spotting him first. Gabby turned around in surprise. "You're pretty stealthy, considering how big you are."

"I like to keep everyone on their toes." John answered with a shrug. "You two alright? Need anything?"

"Well, there is something." Ken answered. "We need a hard-to-find set of FBA couplings to help us out down here. Without getting too technical…"

He proceeded to launch into a technical monologue that was far too complicated for John to follow. Gabby must've noticed the completely bewildered look on his face, because she saved the Marine from his confusion.

"Kenneth." She reprimanded, "You're getting too technical. To sum it up, Staff Sergeant, it would save us a lot of maintenance time if we had those couplings."

"Send me the details." John answered with a nod. "I'll see if I can pick them up somewhere along the way."

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant." Gabby answered as John left the Engineering room.

When he arrived at the garbage disposal room, he was surprised by how many personal items Zaeed had decorated the room with. The merc was leaned up on the wall, arms crossed as he watched the Marine.

"What's new, Zaeed?" John wondered.

"Glad you're here, Shepard." Zaeed said, the veteran mercenary smiling, "You know that mission I mentioned?"

"The refinery?" John clarified.

"Yeah." Zaeed answered, "The leader of the Blue Suns is gonna be there tomorrow. I need to hit it then. I need you and perhaps that psychotic biotic to come along in case things get…difficult. There are civilians there, after all."

"You're not planning on gunning them down or anything?" John asked hesitantly.

"Of course not." Zaeed growled, seeming offended by the idea, "But if it's between my mission and a bunch of workers, I can promise you that I'll choose my mission."

"We'll get it done, then." John told him, "Without casualties."

"Sounds good." Zaeed answered.

With that done, John realized that there was one other person he hadn't really said much to since she came aboard. So he diverted down under the core to find Jack in her hidey-hole. When he stepped into the small area, her eyes snapped to his.

"Well, look who decided to visit." She taunted. "I thought the likes of you didn't like to be seen with the likes of me."

"Right." John answered, "I'll be sure to snub you next time we go to dinner or something."

"Fuck you." She shot back, but she still smirked. "So what the hell are you here for?"

"Checking in." He answered with a shrug, "Making sure you're all squared away."

"No you're not." She replied, still smirking. "You're here for the same thing every man is here for."

John shook his head. Ever since she'd come aboard, he knew he'd have this problem when talking to her. A woman like her would've learned not to trust anyone. He didn't want anything from her along those lines. So he went with the most direct approach he knew.

"Get over yourself, Jack." John advised her. "I'm not interested in you. At all. I was down here for the same reason Miranda comes down here. To check on you and make sure you're doing well."

She sighed and sat down, showing a surprising amount of restraint.

"I found the facility." She said quietly. "The one they imprisoned me as a child."

She looked up and John saw pure rage and pain in her eyes.

"I want to go there, right now." She stated, her eyes widening and her fists clenching as she spoke through gritted teeth. "I want to deploy a big fucking bomb and wipe that place straight off Pragia."

"We'll get there, Jack." John promised her, "But your mission is going to have to come after Zaeed's."

"Why the fuck?!" She yelled angrily, standing straight and glaring at him. He noticed her fists starting to glow blue, showing signs of readying herself for a fight.

John didn't want to put up with it. He leaned in close, allowing biotic energy to start circulating through his own body. He could already tell that Jack was going to back down, even before he stepped closer to take full advantage of his intimidating size.

"We'll get to your mission, Jack." He told her calmly, but firmly. "The parameters of Zaeed's mission give a timeframe. Your facility will be there afterwards."

"Fine." Jack replied, letting the energy subside and easing off.

John wasn't finished. He wanted to get along with Jack, but he would not tolerate her threatening him or any other crewmembers.

"And if you threaten me again," He continued, his voice dropping, "Or anybody on this ship, I drop you off at the next max security prison we find and ensure you never escape. Are we clear?"

"Yes." She replied, gritting her teeth as she looked away from him and crossed her arms disdainfully. "Sorry."

"I'll take you out to Pragia personally." John promised her, "We'll need to bring one more. Any ideas?"

"Yeah." She replied with a twisted grin. "The cheerleader."

John fought it, but couldn't help it as a slow smile spread across his face.

"You have a wicked sense of humor, Jack."

"Fuck humor." She shot back, still smirking, "She needs to see what her precious organization is involved in."

"Staff Sergeant Shepard." EDI's voice chimed, "We're about to get underway. We're setting a course for the refinery. Please prepare your team."

John nodded and looked back at Jack.

"Gotta get back up to it." He said, "Meet me in the armory in ten."

"Yeah." Jack replied, taking a seat on her favorite crate. "And…listen…sorry. Really."

"Don't apologize," John answered as he ascended the stairs, "Just don't do it again."

He got in the elevator and headed for the command suite. When he got up there, he wasn't surprised to find Kasumi and Jane there. Kasumi was grinning from ear to ear and Jane was...wearing a dress.

"Have fun, ladies?" John asked, smiling as he stepped out of the elevator.

"We did." Kasumi answered. John noticed that his sister was looking at him in something approximating surprise. The reason was quickly explained. "Are you smiling?"

"I…do that, sometimes." John answered with a shrug.

"You know why it is, right?" Kasumi asked Jane. She looked at the thief in confusion and Kasumi levied a grin at John before turning back to his sister, "Your brother and one of our engineers are a thing, now."

"Gabby?" Jane asked, surprised, "She always struck me as-"

"Try again." Kasumi answered.

John opened his mouth to direct the conversation elsewhere, but his sister was nothing if not quick. Her mouth dropped in surprise and amusement glittered in her eyes.

"I was waiting for it." She said, "But now I don't know what to say. I'm going to have to have a talk with her."

John was about to say something, until he remembered that he'd just threatened to beat Garrus to death if he did anything wrong by his sister. So he settled on appeasing Jane.

"Just…be gentle." He answered as the two women stepped into the elevator.

"Gentle's what I do best." Jane answered with a mischievous grin as the elevator doors closed.

_That's…really not good. _

_**For those reading At Civilization's End (my other ME fic), I've put it on hold until I catch this story up.**_


	35. Chapter 35

_**Commander Jane Shepard –Normandy SR-2**_

"So," Jane started, striding into the engineering room. "_Tali._"

Something about the way she said the engineer's name struck a small level of fear in the young quarian woman. Jane watched with amusement as Tali straightened at her console and turned, almost guiltily, to look at Jane. To Jane's right, Ken and Gabby had shrunk back, a little intimidated by the normally serene woman's voice.

"Yes, Jane?" Tali asked, her voice small and slightly scared.

"Tali, Tali…_Tali_." Jane repeated, stalking closer. She was still wearing her dress from the heist. Somehow, that made everything worse. Tali unconsciously backed into her terminal, trying to put some distance between her and the unnerving Spectre stalking towards her.

"Yes?" She asked again.

Jane wasn't quite sure what she wanted to say. The fact that the quarian engineer had her sights set on her brother had surprised her, even though she'd always sensed the attraction Tali had towards John.

Jane planted a hand on the console Tali usually worked on and leaned close to Tali, who had more or less backed into the corner.

"So I hear you're gunning for my brother." Jane said. She heard Ken and Gabby gasp behind her, but paid the two no mind. "And I have a few things to say about that."

"I didn't…" She started, then stopped and tried again, "He started…"

"You're like a sister to me, Tali." Jane informed the quarian, smiling sweetly. "I have your back through nearly anything."

"I know." Tali answered, nodding eagerly, "And I-"

"But John has spent his entire life protecting me." Jane continued, overriding Tali. "Ever since I was a teenager. In return, I try to look out for him whenever I can."

"I know you d-"

"There have been entire parades of women who trampled all over him." Jane informed Tali. It was something Jane tried to never speak of, as she knew that John didn't appreciate people knowing too much about his personal life. This was important, however. "And I'll be damned if you're the next one."

Jane leaned in closer, so close that she could almost smell the anxiety coming from the quarian woman.

"Do you understand?"

"Jane." Tali answered quietly, "I thought I'd see my homeworld again before John ever showed any kind of interest in me. I would never hurt him."

"I know you won't." Jane replied. "Because if you do, I will be coming after you."

"I…I…"

"So," Jane began again, her tone friendly and conversational, "What's new?"

"I've…been working on some ideas for improving our shields." She told the Spectre. "If I could just get some resources to tinker with it…"

"You'll have them." Jane assured her, "Anything from the Admiralty Board since your trial?"

"I…uh…yes." Tali replied hesitantly. Jane had clearly terrified the young woman. "There are rumors that I'm being suggested as an Admiral, to replace my father."

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Jane replied. "Why don't you seem to want it?"

"It's a little bit much for someone my age." Tali admitted.

"Tali," Jane said in amusement, "How many quarians-Marines included-have as much combat experience as you do?"

"Well…one." Tali replied. "She's pretty young for an Admiral, too."

"Exactly." Jane told her, "Think it over, Tali. I think you'd make a good Admiral. I'm going to go see how everyone's doing."

"Y-yes." Tali answered, still pressed into a corner.

Jane walked away and headed back towards the cargo bay, thoroughly pleased that she'd managed to stay civil. She wanted the best for her brother and she thought Tali would do him a world of good, but she didn't want anything bad to happen to him. She owed him more than she could ever hope to repay.

When she entered the cargo bay, she was surprised to find Grunt in a state of extreme agitation. He was staring fixedly at the floor, his formidable bulk tensed in rage as he clenched his fists.

"Grunt?" Jane asked, approaching him warily. They had gotten off to a good start and she didn't want to have to hurt him.

The krogan looked up at her, his ice-blue eyes a warning.

"Commander." Grunt greeted, the words sounding tense. "There's something wrong with me."

_You think?_

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know." He grunted in clear frustration. "I feel angry and I can't control it! I just want…want…"

He growled in anger and slammed his fist into a cargo crate, denting it inwards. Jane didn't flinch, merely watching as he roared in pure rage.

"Why?!" He yelled, "Why can't I control it!?"

"Sounds like we need a krogan opinion."

"There are no krogan doctors." Grunt told her morosely. "No krogan off-world that'll help me. The only place I can get help is Tuchunka. I won't ask you to go there. I will control this."

"Nonsense." Jane answered. "John has some business with Zaeed and Jack to settle. We'll have Joker drop us off on Tuchunka when I get up there."

"Thank you, Commander." He growled. "Anger is my choice, not a disease."

She nodded and left the cargo bay.

_I haven't talked to Samara yet. _She realized. The only face time she had with the old asari was when she'd pledged herself to Jane's service.

Jane moved to the next deck and could feel the power radiating from the observation deck she was waiting on. The Spectre walked in to find Samara calmly sitting on the deck, cross-legged and serene as she radiated biotic power that visibly crawled over her body. She had her hands up and a bright blue ball of writhed between them.

Jane stepped in front of her in amazement, having never seen such a display of raw biotic power. The asari's eyes were filmed over blue, the same color as the biotic energy dancing over her body.

"Commander." She greeted with a wistful smile.

"I thought we could talk." Jane said, "I don't know much about you."

"I would like that." Samara answered. "I have not had companions for many years. I may be a stranger to conversation, but if you will bear with me, I'll do my best."

"No need to be so formal, Samara." Jane replied. "Tell me about yourself."

"Not much to tell, honestly." Samra told her. "My story is nearly identical to every other Justicar. A wild maiden youth, then I joined the Justicar Order."

"Why join?" Jane asked curiously.

Her words were met with a small frown. Jane got the feeling she was treading on a forbidden topic.

"It is a…deeply personal matter." She replied. "It changes with each Justicar. I apologize, but some things should be kept close to the chest."

"I understand." Jane told her, "How do you feel working with us? I know the Order is strict."

"There are many walks of life amongst your team." Samara answered. "I find them all tolerable. Jack and Zaeed would be dead if I met them in an alleyway, but I can at least understand why they've taken the paths they have."

"What do you mean?" Jane asked.

"Usually, when I kill a criminal, I don't want to know their story." She replied. "If I'm to kill a man for doing wrong, do I really want to know he's a devoted father?"

"So you've gained a little perspective?" Jane wondered.

"Many criminals have a reason for the things they do." Samara answered serenely. "This has always been known, even to my order. Many do it because they have no other choice, or because they've been forced to. People are too quick to judge a person's walk of life."

"Yet you kill them." Jane continued.

"They still deserve punishment." Samara finished, smiling slightly. "But their acts and deeds are still logical. Usually."

"I should go." Jane replied.

"I look forward to our next conversation."

Jane exited the room and decided to check in on Kasumi. She wanted to make sure the thief was doing well, as emotional as that last mission had been for her. She headed for the opposite observation deck.

When she stepped into the fully furnished room, she wasn't surprised to find the thief lounging on her couch, a holographic interface over her eyes as she interacted with the greybox of her former lover.

The interface turned off and Kasumi looked up at Jane.

Jane had to admit that she had never found a better friend than Kasumi. The woman was a chatty little gossip and it was a normalcy that Jane desperately needed in her life. She was going to be sad when the mission was over and went her separate way.

"How did the chat with Tali go?" Kasumi wondered.

"Good." Jane answered with a smile as she sat in a nearby chair. "It was very friendly."

"Really?" Kasumi asked, a smirk on her face, "Because Tali just messaged me and told me she's terrified for her life."

"Maybe I went a little overboard." Jane admitted. "But I won't see John getting hurt over this."

"You really care about him." Kasumi observed, "Don't you?"

"When my parents were killed on Mindoir," Jane confessed to the thief, "John was on the ship that rescued me. I was only a teenager then. This was before Elysium, before I made my mark. He stowed me on the ship he was on, not willing to give me up to foster homes."

Jane looked the thief square in the eyes, a gaze the thief found incredibly intense.

"He bribed some of the Navy personnel to keep quiet and beat the ones who threatened to tell." Jane continued, "For three years, he kept me safe and under his wing until I was old enough to be out on my own."

"Damn." Kasumi muttered.

"Yeah." Jane replied. "Even now, he's only here because he wants to protect me. Not that I need it, but it's the only thing he knows. I've watched his many failed relationships over the years and think this may be the one chance he has to really find some peace. So I'll do whatever I have to do to ensure it works out."

"You never have a normal story to tell, Shep." Kasumi informed her, giggling.

"I don't think anyone on this ship has a normal story to tell." Jane muttered. "Anyways, how're you doing?"

"I'm fine." Kasumi answered with a smile. "I've just been on the greybox for a while."

"So I saw." Jane replied, standing up. "Just don't overdo it, okay?"

"I won't." Kasumi promised Jane as the Commander left the room.

_Where to next? _

Jane didn't want to talk to Garrus until they had their 'date'. So she settled for talking to Miranda. For all the help John had given the Cerberus Operative, Jane hadn't ever said much to her.

_I have a bone to pick with her, besides._

She walked to the XO's suite and wasn't surprised to see Miranda behind her terminal.

"Commander." She greeted with a nod.

"What's going on, Miranda?" Jane asked.

"Nothing much." The woman answered with a shrug of her shoulders, "Just reviewing some reports before I send them out."

She folded her hands and looked up at Jane.

"As far as Cerberus operations go," She continued, "This is one of the best I've ever been assigned to."

Jane had to admit that she was getting tired of the woman's unfailing devotion to Cerberus. The organization was one Jane grudgingly worked with, but they deserved no praise.

"Maybe because this isn't a Cerberus operation." Jane answered. "This is my operation."

"And I report to the Illusive Man." Miranda simplified steadfastly.

"Which bothers me in more ways than one." Jane informed the woman, crossing her arms and leaning up against the wall. "I don't like the way Cerberus does things and I don't like that you're reporting our actions back to a man like him."

"He rebuilt you, Commander." She replied. "Well, actually, I did. He provided the funds and manpower, though."

"Have you ever heard of Admiral Kahoku?" Jane asked. "Asked me to investigate his missing men, found out it was Cerberus?"

"And we had to make sure he kept quiet about the research facilities." Miranda countered. "Sometim-"

"He wasn't just killed, Miranda." Jane said severely, taking a very harsh tone. She still remembered Kahoku, finding his body sprawled on the floor of a research facility. "He was tortured."

"Better that than-"

"Than what?!" Jane yelled, shocking the Cerberus Operative into silence. "Better to kill a man who has fought for humanity in the Alliance? A hero of the First Contact War?!"

"I…" Miranda tried to start, then stopped. She was completely lost for words, having never seen the Commander so angry.

"I'm sure the Illusive Man tells his faithful servants-that's what you are, by the way-that they're doing the right thing by humanity." Jane continued, albeit in a more conversational tone, "In reality, he's just power hungry. And for all your smarts and fancy genetics, you're just another tool to him, to be thrown away."

"I've proved my loyalty." Miranda answered quickly. Jane heard the uncertainty there, though.

"When a hero of humanity like Kahoku is tortured to death, what chance do you think you have, Miranda?" Jane answered. "Especially given certain…events that transpired during John's reconstruction."

For the first time, Jane appeared to have caught the Operative completely by surprise. She felt a rush of pleasure as the woman's eyes widened and she leaned back, as if trying to get away from the Commander.

"How did you…" She whispered, sounding horrified, "What…"

"The Illusive Man isn't the only one with his own intelligence assets." Jane replied, preferring not to tell the woman that she'd gotten in touch with Liara and asked her to conduct an investigation on the Lazarus Project. She still felt a little guilty that she hadn't even seen Liara before demanding information from her, but the asari had taken it well enough. "I know what you tried to do to him. Furthermore, I know what the Illusive Man intends to do with John when this is over. I will not see him packed off to a Cerberus lab somewhere. Is that what you want?"

"No!" Miranda yelled, her voice panicky, "I don't! He's a valuab-"

"I know you don't." Jane answered. "Because for all your skill and intelligence, you know I will find you. With that said, maybe you should rethink the ethics of a pro-human organization who's out killing those fighting for humanity and the galaxy."

"I-"

"And remember." Jane started as she stood straight and prepared to leave. "If I ever find John missing after this mission is over, I will find you and then I'll find you an airlock. After an hour or two."

Satisfied that the stunned silence meant she'd gotten her message across, Jane left the quarters and headed up further to tell Joker about the plans to head to Tuchunka. She walked through Mordin's lab and expected to find him busy. To her surprise, he was not.

"Shepard." He called out. Jane noticed an unusual amount of stress and worry in the old salarian's voice. "Need to speak to you about urgent matter."

"Shoot." Jane replied, surprised that the doctor had something.

"One of my assistants from the Genophage project has been kidnapped by a krogan clan." Mordin answered rapid fire. Jane almost had difficulty keeping up with him. "Clan Weyrloc."

"Well, you're in luck." Jane told the man, "We've got to get Grunt down to Tuchunka as well. I'll take you and him and we'll see if I can't handle both of your problems."

"Would appreciate it, Shepard." The salarian replied. "Can be at ease for now, work on tissue synthesis."

He headed back for his table and Jane headed for the bridge.

Joker was deep in argument with EDI when Jane showed up. She decided she was more interested in hearing what was going on and apparently, EDI didn't care enough to call her out on her presence.

"-cameras in the bathrooms." Joker was answering crossly.

_What? _

"I do not monitor the cameras in the bathroom." EDI replied. "The footage is merely to be used in case an investigation is requested by the Commander."

"Don't worry, Joker," Jane answered. "I won't be launching any investigations. I'm just going to assume 'not that impressive'."

"You know what they say about people with brittle bones." Joker quipped back without missing a beat.

"What do they say?" EDI asked, the blue sphere glowing inquisitively.

"We need to work on that." Jane muttered. "We need to drop to Tuchunka, Joker, after you drop John off at Zorya."

"Great." Joker mumbled. "Because you don't get enough excitement aboard the Normandy. You want Chakwas on standby to repair the damage to your forehead after an excitable night of rampant headbutting?"

"That…might not be a bad idea, actually." Jane admitted.

"Don't worry, Commander." Joker assured her. "We'll get you there."

Jane laid a gentle hand on the man's shoulder.

"You always do, Joker." She praised. "You always do."


	36. Chapter 36

_**Grunt – Tuchunka**_

Grunt felt another flash of rage as he stepped onto the sand and rubble that was Tuchunka. He saw others of his species hanging around on the landing pad. He should've felt excited, meeting others like him.

He was not, though. He didn't know why, but he felt no emotional attachment towards them, no spirit of camaraderie. They may as well have just been asari or salarian, for all he cared.

The krogan were all glaring at Mordin. Grunt could sense the rage and violence in their gazes and knew they wanted to tear Mordin apart. Honestly, Grunt found himself distracted with the curiosity of whether or not Mordin could hold his own against a group of enraged krogan.

Grunt followed Commander Shepard, trying to keep himself calm. His anger wasn't normal and he knew it, but he knew she needed to trust him. So he'd stay calm and collected until he found out what was going on.

They descended into a tunnel and as they walked, Grunt looked at his surroundings.

_Piles of dust and rubble. _He lamented. _Is this the homeworld of my people? Is this the legacy of the krogan people?_

They emerged into a wide cavern that was clearly the ruin of what was some grand building at some point. Krogan were everywhere. Some were fighting, some were fixing vehicles and still others were training varren. To Grunt, it was a mess. Still, it was an organized mess. More purposeful than he saw of most krogan.

There was a raised section of rubble in the corner that was obscured by an abundance of sunlight beaming in through a hole in the ceiling. Grunt couldn't make out specifics of everyone up there, but there were two guards up front, with a krogan in a chair and another pacing around in front of him, talking.

Honestly, Grunt wasn't sure how he felt about Clan Urdnot. The imprint left from the tank had briefly mentioned the clan and that they had only recently become significant after continuing efforts to unify the krogan clans under one banner.

_Cunning is good. _Grunt considered, _But can only get you so far before you need strength._

They approached the four krogan, but were immediately rebuffed by the two guards.

The Clan Chief is in talks." They informed Commander Shepard. "You'll have to wait."

As the (In Grunt's opinion) weaker-looking krogan paced in front of the Clan Chief, Grunt finally got a look at the krogan in charge of Clan Urdnot.

He was easily the most impressive krogan Grunt had ever seen, including Warlord Okeer. The krogan was clad in very intimidating and thick silver armor, but the armor wasn't what drew Grunt's attention. It was the trio of long scars raking down the older krogan's face. It was the gouges and bulletholes in the krogan's crimson plate. It was the look of utter disgust in his blood-colored and battle-hardened eyes at the whining pup before him.

"Wrex…" Grunt heard the Commander whisper in what was clearly shock.

As if drawn by the mere whisper of his name, the massive krogan turned his head to find Commander Shepard standing in front of his guards.

He didn't even make note of the krogan in front of him as he took to his feet. Grunt could see the delight in the Clan Chief's face as the gargantuan krogan grinned.

"Shepard." He bellowed, his voice nearly shaking the room. He began to stride towards their group.

Jane led the way, with Mordin and Grunt close behind. Grunt noticed the surrounding krogan eyeing Mordin with distaste, though not outright hostility like the ones on the landing pad.

Grunt watched as the old krogan let out a rumbling chuckle and clasped forearms with Commander Shepard, laughing in joy the whole time.

"Shepard." He grunted with a smile. "My friend."

"I can't believe it's you, Wrex." Commander Shepard said.

"You look good for dead, Shepard." He replied, "Should've known the void couldn't hold you. How's your brother?"

"He died, too." Commander Shepard answered. "But he's back, as well."

"You're the toughest pair of aliens I've ever known." Wrex told them.

_Agreed. _Grunt begrudgingly admitted.

"So it looks like you've been doing some work since we've been…ah…dead."

"That I have." Wrex acknowledged. "I've taken over as the Clan Chief and I am trying to unite the krogan."

"How's that been going?" Shepard asked.

"Better than I feared," He answered, "Worse than I hoped."

"You abandoned many traditions to get your way." The weaker krogan at the…throne…argued. "Dangerous."

Wrex rounded on the krogan and headbutted the weakling so hard that he stumbled and fell to the ground. Grunt would've laughed, but he didn't want to start problems before he even got to talk to the Chief.

"Speak when spoken to, Uvenk." Wrex growled, heading back for the throne of rubble. "I'll drag your clan to glory whether it likes it or not."

Grunt hated to admit it, but he was coming to like this Chief. He wasn't too certain about the efforts being made, but he knew the old krogan had more strength than he did. Possibly as much as Staff Sergeant Shepard did. The fact that he'd previously traveled with the Shepards (assumedly when they went up against Saren) certainly added some respect.

"So what stops all your work from being undone if you die?" Commander Shepard asked, rather morbidly.

"Nothing, yet." He answered the human Spectre privately. "My idiot brother takes over for me, but I have another Urdnot in mind to take over if someone offs me."

"Who?"

"Urdnot Krieg." Wrex answered with a grunt. "He's working in the Terminus Systems with STT Zeta on that Reaper out there."

Grunt had remembered Staff Sergeant Shepard speaking of that team briefly. They were, more or less, not that different from the Normandy crew. They were after a Reaper that was trying to start a war out there that would distract the galaxy until the real threat blindsided them. Plus, they intended to show the Council the dead Reaper, convincing the galaxy to take up arms.

"So what can I do for you, Shepard?"

"Two things." Jane answered, "Got a couple of my crew who have problems that need to be resolved here on Tuchunka."

"Of course." He answered with a grunt. He looked back at her crew and spotted Mordin first. "He'll be wanting the other salarian that Weyrloc captured, I assume."

"Yes." Mordin answered. "Old student of mine."

"Well," Wrex answered, "May not be as simple as you expected. This Maelon came around to my clan and asked me if I would accept him in to help cure the Genophage."

"And you said no?" Mordin asked, his voice curious.

"What he wanted was our females." Wrex answered. "The experiments he planned to do were brutal. I may not be the most upstanding member of the galaxy, but I have no intention of causing any more suffering amongst our people."

"Surprisingly wise." Mordin hedged.

"Not all krogan are mindless brutes, salarian." Wrex growled. Grunt once again raised his estimation of the krogan. He may not have felt anything towards the krogan people's plight, but he knew that his people would soon be extinct if they kept up the way they were. "Unfortunately, we've got agreements with the female clans, which means Clan Weyrloc came after them once they accepted the salarian. We used our infertile females as a decoy and they got captured."

"So he's there willingly." Mordin answered. "Interesting."

"I assume the krogan at your back is your other issue?" Wrex said. Grunt finally met the Clan Chief's eyes. In them, he saw centuries of hard living and hard decisions.

"Yes." Jane confirmed.

The two krogan shared a good hard look and Wrex began to speak almost ponderously.

"Where are you from, whelp?" He asked, his crimson eyes boring into the younger krogan's crystal gaze, "Was your clan destroyed before you were old enough to know what was expected of you?"

"I have no clan." Grunt answered. Honesty was his best policy here and he knew it. "I was created by Warlord Okeer."

"Okeer is a very old name." Wrex informed the young krogan. "A very hated name."

"He is dead." Grunt told Wrex.

"Of course he is." Wrex answered with a shrug. "You're with Shepard. How can he be alive?"

"So what's wrong with him?" Jane interrupted.

"There's nothing wrong with him." Wrex countered. "He's becoming a full adult. When a krogan becomes of age, he is given the Rite."

There was a moment of silence as Wrex considered Grunt. He put an armored hand to his forehead and stroked it in thought.

"A clone…undertaking the Rite." Wrex pondered aloud.

"You go too far!" Uvenk yelled, finally rejoining the conversation. "Your reforms have been bad enough, but this thing is not krogan."

As the krogan stomped away, Wrex shook his head.

"Idiot." He grumbled. He looked back at Grunt. "So, Grunt. Do you want to stand with Clan Urdnot?"

Grunt didn't answer immediately. He turned away and looked out at the rubble in front of him.

_The krogan clans are scattered to the winds. _He pondered, _Slowly driving themselves to extinction. This clan plans to unite the krogan, to save us all. That's my choice. Either be a krogan fighting a pointless fight or fight for my people._

Grunt didn't have any particular feelings towards his own kind. Something about the idea of fighting for such a noble cause, though, excited him.

He turned back to Wrex, resolve in his eyes.

"It is in my blood." He answered. "It is what I am for."

"Good boy." Wrex praised. "Go see the shaman. He'll get you set up. You put on a good show and you're in."

"We'll catch up a little later, Wrex." Jane told him. "Once John comes back."

"Sounds good." He answered "Be careful, Shepard. Tuchunka isn't safe and homey, like Virmire and Ilos."

After a short and heated conversation with the Shaman and Uvenk, Grunt found himself tucked into a transport with Jane and Mordin. Grunt looked up as they sped out of the complex and found their driver occupied with watching the 'road'.

"Commander." Grunt said, looking down on the human woman, "Thank you for volunteering to be my krant."

"You helped save my ass back on Freedom's Progress." Jane answered with a shrug. "I owe you at least one."

He grinned and felt excitement brewing within him as they continued driving. A half hour into the drive, they stopped at a giant maw hammer. The structure was sticking out of the ground, with steps on all sides.

"Press the keystone." The Shaman advised them. "Three times. Whatever happens is your problem to deal with. Understood?"

"Yes." Grunt replied.

They drove away and Grunt watched them go until they were about half a kilometer out. Then, they stopped. He saw figures getting out of the transports, clearly to watch the show.

By the giant maw hammer was a small pedestal with a green button. Grunt slammed a fist on it.

The hammer raised and then dropped, slamming into the ground with a boom that echoed across the ruins.

Grunt looked out around and found an entire wave of creatures headed their way. He recognized them from the imprints. Varren. They were four-legged creatures that were dangerous, though not as dangerous as a Collector.

"Let them come." Grunt growled. He looked around. There were two entrances to the area they were in. He looked at the Commander, who shot him a small smile.

"This is your Rite, Grunt." Jane told him. "You're in charge."

He gave her an appreciative nod. He was glad to hear that she was willing to give him control over his own Rite. He was starting to respect the human woman just as much as her brother.

"Shepard, you and Mordin keep that entrance covered." Grunt ordered. "I'll be over there with my shotgun."

And that was the way the fight against the varren went. They were relatively easy to dispatch. Grunt could hear and SMG and assault rifle behind him as he let each varren in close, then obliterated it with a shotgun blast.

When it was over, Grunt walked over to the keystone and slapped the button again. This time, when the boom rang out over the surrounding desert, he heard a high-pitched scream across the skies.

"Harvester!" Grunt bellowed.

A huge, winged creature landed and fixated its beady eyes on them.

Like much of the life on Tuchunka, the Harvesters were deadly and cunning. What made them dangerous was their ability to pick up Klixen and drop them off wherever they landed. They used the fire-breathing bugs as shock troops.

Defending the entrances wasn't going to help them, as the Klixen would only be coming from one side.

"AP Rounds!" Grunt yelled. "Keep your distance, they breathe fire and explode when they die!"

"Will do." Jane answered.

They engaged the Klixen in an ever-moving semi-circle, shifting when a Klixen would go after a specific target or when the harvester would drop off more troops. After nearly a dozen wave of Klixen, the battle subsided.

"Last round." Grunt said as he slammed a fist on the button.

This time, there wasn't an immediate reaction to the hammer. Grunt looked back at Shepard, who merely shrugged.

"Looks lik-" Grunt started, until the ground began to shake. He heard a cry underneath them and felt a smile spread over his face.

"Is that…what I think it is?" Jane wondered.

"A thresher maw." Grunt answered immediately.

With a rumble, the ground opened up and a giant worm emerged from the ground. Grunt was unable to find where its eyes were, but supposed the antennae at the top of the monster's head were showing it where the team was.

"Find cover and take shots when you can!" Grunt yelled.

The three of them scattered, spreading out and finding a place to hide in the scant cover.

The thresher maw was the deadliest creature that Tachunka had. Each one was able to vomit up a projectile made of acid that was created in their stomachs.

That was exactly the first move the maw made, sending a projectile towards the Commander. Grunt and Mordin used the opportunity to fire.

The battle continued like that for a few minutes. Every time the maw would send a projectile someone's way, the other two would pop out from cover and fire. It was a sound strategy, but it wasn't going to beat the maw. While Grunt didn't technically need to beat it, only survive it, he wouldn't have anything less than a dead thresher maw at his feet.

He looked down at his shotgun.

_The Claymore should be powerful enough to do it. _He reasoned.

"Commander!" He yelled. Jane looked his way, shooting him a questionable glance as a ball of acid splashed against the column she was taking cover behind. "Give me covering fire!"

She gave him a singular nod and he rushed forward. There was a cyclic rate of fire as Mordin opened up with his SMG and Jane with her assault rifle. Grunt skidded to a stop in front of the distracted maw and fired at the cylindrical worm. It roared and looked down at him as he popped out the thermal clip.

The thresher maw swooped down as Grunt hurriedly pushed a fresh thermal clip in. He pulled the shotgun up just as the thresher maw opened its mouth to scoop him up.

Grunt pulled the trigger and the shotgun pushed against his shoulder as a massive blast erupted from the Claymore shotgun, shredding the monster's head. With a gurgle, it fell to the ground, dead.

"Good." Grunt muttered. His rage was spent, but he wished he had something more to fight.

As he rejoined Jane and Mordin, his wish was granted.

Gatatog Uvenk and three krogans moved into the square they stood in. The krogan's eyes were on Grunt, his gaze shrewd. Grunt didn't like it.

He could feel the Commander and Mordin shifting at his back, taking up defensive postures.

"Well, this is interesting." He said. "You killed a thresher maw. Nobody's done that since Wrex himself."

"What do you want?" Grunt demanded.

"To offer you acceptance into the Uvenk Clan." Gatatog answered, staring the krogan down. "If you truly are pure krogan, I can accept your kind. You will be given a _very _comfortable position."

Grunt felt the rage come back. This varren was offering him a cushy position, all because he'd killed a thresher maw. He didn't want status, or a title. He wanted respect.

"You spit on my name." Grunt growled in anger, "On Shepard's name! But now you stop ranting because I'm strong?"

"With restrictions, of course." The Clan Chief conceded. "You won't be able to reproduce, or serve on an alien vessel."

Grunt glanced at Shepard, who seemed to know his answer even before he gave it.

"If I know Grunt." Jane answered, "Your answer is coming at muzzle velocity."

"You do know grunt." The krogan answered with a wicked grin.

Grunt rushed forward and shoved the Chief to the ground, before shoving the barrel of the Claymore in his face. His constant combat with the Shepards had honed his strength and speed to the point where even the somewhat experienced Chief couldn't overpower him.

As gunfire erupted around him, Grunt fired his Claymore and obliterated the krogan Chief's face.

He didn't stick around to gloat, like an amateur. There was a battle commencing around him and he couldn't just stand around. He spotted cover and moved to it, putting away the shotgun as he went. He was going to need a mid-range weapon for this engagement.

The Avenger unfolded in his hands as he got behind a column, a shotgun blast chipping off pieces of it. Grunt peered around to find another krogan down besides Gatatog.

"On the left, Grunt!" Shepard yelled. He swung out from his cover and fired his assault rifle at the krogan approaching from the left. He heard a cry to the right of his cover as the second krogan died.

Just as Grunt was about to reload, the last krogan finally sagged to the ground.

"Uvenk is meat." Grunt growled, rounding on Jane. "Let's get-"

He was stopped when he noticed movement over the Commander's shoulder. Wrex was approaching with the Shaman.

"You just can't help but make trouble, Shepard." He told the Commander with a grin as he swept a hand out towards the dead thresher maw. "Next you're gonna tell me he's a quint and shits dark matter."

He approached Grunt and looked down at Uvenk.

"You did good, Grunt." Wrex said. Grunt felt a flash of pride at being directly addressed.

_I have a clan, now. A place to belong._

"Whether reformer or traditional, the Uvenk clan will be shamed by this attack." Wrex said. "More than likely, they'll be picked apart by the other clans for this trespass."

"Unless they join a stronger clan, of course." Jane pointed out, her voice bemused. "Perhaps a very strong one that they're considering an alliance with."

_He's far more clever than I thought. _Grunt admitted. _And I thought rather highly, in the first place._

"That would be the best option for them." Wrex replied with a wide smile. "Grunt."

Grunt knew what he had to do. The imprints reminded him. Grunt went down on a knee in front of the Clan Chief.

"You are Urdnot Grunt." Wrex announced. "You may now mate with our females and hold property within clan borders. You are authorized to apprenticeship under a battlemaster."

"The Shepards are my battlemasters." Grunt replied. He looked over his shoulder to find Jane smiling at him. He saw pride in her gaze. "They have no match."

There was another grin from Wrex as he looked back at the thresher maw, then at Commander Shepard.

"Indeed." He agreed.

**_So I lied. The Collector ship will be after this round of loyalty missions, then touchy-feely moments as they do LOTSB and Project OVerlord. Then the last round of loyalty missions before the Legion mission._**


	37. Chapter 37

_**Jack – Pragia**_

Jack felt a flare of anxiety as the shuttle touched down at the facility. It'd been a long time since she'd been here.

The place was a ruins. The walls were all worn through and overgrown with plant life. Rain fell all across the complex, coating the deck of the landing pad.

Jack stepped off of the transport, with John and the Cheerleader in tow. The mission to Zorya had been a success. John had managed to save some lives and they'd gotten Santiago in the process. With Zaeed on board and Jane still on Tuchunka, John had been more than happy to accompany Jack.

Which she was happy about. She still felt a little regretful for threatening him. His own threat hadn't been what had shamed her, so much as her ungratefulness at his willingness to help her. She was a powerful, murderous bitch, but John was doing more for her than anybody had ever done. She owed him civility, at least.

She was glad he was here. Besides being an emotionless rock when she'd need it, he would keep quiet on anything they found in there.

Her reasons for bringing Miranda had been very simple. She sensed that the woman could be turned away from Cerberus and Jack wanted nothing more than for the Illusive Man to lose another great asset.

Jack had experienced a quick thrill of terror when she'd seen the facility. She'd even (much to her disgust) recommended that they just turn around and forget about it all. John had reassured her and now, here they were.

She took the lead, as John had promised her she could. They moved into the entrance, where Jack saw a little vid-terminal amongst the decayed wreckage of the room. Quite simply, John wanted to make sure the ruins were clear before bringing in the bomb.

"They brought the children in through here." Jack told them, gazing around the area. "They were starving, bruised and beaten, but they were alive. Usually."

She activated the console, curious as to what was on it. One of the researchers that she vaguely recognized popped up on the terminal.

"We've found the perfect specimen to base this project around." The researcher said. "We're dubbing her 'Subject Zero'."

Jack switched the recording off.

"Let's move." Jack ordered, heading for the door.

They entered a hallway, this one also containing a vid terminal. Jack switched it on as John and Miranda settled in behind her.

This one was a recording of a guard. He looked panicked.

"The children have broken containment!" He was yelling into his communicator. "Subdue or kill them if you must, but do _not _kill Subject Zero. I repeat, do not shoot her."

Jack couldn't switch this one off, letting it repeat as she processed the new information. She felt John slide in around her and switch off the vid for her. She turned to find herself staring into his green eyes.

"You okay?" He asked.

"They…they didn't want to kill me." Jack whispered, more to herself than to anyone else, "I was…but…"

"C'mon, Jack." John ordered her. Even through her confusion, Jack could tell that John was pushing her for a reason.

They pushed forward and down into the next area, which was a hallway with tiny cells on each side.

"They kept children in here?" Miranda wondered. Jack heard a small undertone in her voice. It was disgust; something Jack was well-used to hearing.

"At least three per cell, Cheerleader." Jack answered.

Miranda went silent, much to Jack's pleasure. Jack hated to admit it, but she was hoping the Cheerleader would come around. She felt a small amount of kinship towards the genetically perfect woman for the gene tampering they'd both gone through.

After that, they went to what Jack had (not so affectionately) called the 'fight room'. As they moved to the end of the long, crowded room, she was unsurprised to find the semicircle of barriers still erect in the corner.

"Well," Miranda said, looking at the semi-circle, "That's strange."

"Thirty-seven children." Jack answered hollowly. Now that she knew what had happened in this facility, of her part in it, she felt a torrent of guilt rushing through her. "I fought thirty-seven children in this ring. I don't even know if the researchers ever gained any knowledge from it."

"How did the fights usually end?" John asked.

Jack's guilty silence was the only answer he received. He didn't pursue the question further, much to Jack's relief. She had killed many people in her lifetime, but nothing would ever make her forget what she'd been forced to do to survive in this place.

They emerged into another hall, this one mercifully without memories or vids.

At the end of the hall were _the _chairs. Jack had been strapped into the surgical chairs many times than she cared to remember, hating it every single time. They'd always been impossibly clean, but were now stained with rust and other indicators of age.

"They used these for the children, I suppose?" John said, his voice laced with clear disdain. Jack knew he wasn't as morally upstanding as his sister, but there was a long distance between morally upstanding and being alright with the torture of children.

"And me." Jack answered as Miranda started messing with one of the chairs.

"Got an audio segment, here." She said quietly. She made a moment of eye contact with Jack and the convict spotted the slightest flash of regret.

_Yeah. _Jack thought vindictively, _Hard to be all high and mighty when you see what it leads to._

"Trial seventy-two killed subject seven." The voice emanated from the chair, "So we'll not be trying that on Subject Zero."

"W-what?" Jack whispered, stunned. "No. They…no!"

"Something wrong, Jack?" John asked.

"I…they didn't die because of me!' Jack yelled at him, before catching herself. He didn't get angry, much to her relief. "I survived this place because I'm stronger than everyone else, John!"

"You were young, Jack." John answered immediately, an unknown emotion in his eyes as he looked at the convict. "You couldn't have known what happened here."

"But-"

"I know you don't want those lives on your conscience," John replied quietly. He reached out and put a firm hand on her shoulder. Jack was too shaken to make note of it. She looked into his eyes and found something there. Something comforting. "They weren't your fault, Jack. It was Cerberus."

"It wasn't Cerberus." Miranda argued. "This facility went rogue."

Jack started to say something, feeling rage towards the Operative, but John surprisingly cut her off.

"And Cerberus is a place for this kind of disgusting mindset to thrive, rogue or not." John told her, staring the woman down. "It doesn't seem bad at first, but how long do you think it'll be before you find yourself betraying your own principles?"

Jack was surprised to see the Cerberus Operative visibly flinch, her eyes widening as she stared at John. Somehow, he'd dealt her a huge blow and Jack had to wonder if there was some unaddressed issue between them.

"That kind of slope leads to this." John finished quietly, gesturing at the chair.

There was a silence as Miranda's wide eyes glared into John's. Suddenly, her biotics flared to life and she glowed blue. Jack made to defend the Staff Sergeant, but he merely held a hand out to stop her. Miranda shoved a finger in John's face.

"I would never do this!" She yelled.

There was a silence, broken when Jack decided to throw her two cents in.

"I'm sure the fuckers who did this said the same thing at one point, too."

Miranda didn't answer, whipping around and walking out of the room and towards the cells.

"You didn't threaten her." Jack accused.

"She didn't really threaten me." John answered with a shrug. "That was anger at herself."

"We might need her for the rest of the mission." Jack replied. "In case there are enemy forces."

"Please." John muttered in a rare moment of sarcasm. "Like you brought her along for help in combat."

Jack let loose a slow grin.

"Guilty."

They moved into the next room, which was a wide-open area. Jack was startled to find the area filled with cargo crates and lighting equipment. She even spotted a half-eaten meal hanging out on a load of support beams and the room had been cleaned.

"What the hell?" John wondered.

"Is…is someone trying to rebuild this place?" Jack muttered, her shocked mind barely able to comprehend the idea.

"It looks like it." John admitted.

"There's only one room left." Jack informed him.

She felt a sense of dread, one that was compounded with each step she took towards that fucking room. Not for the first time, she was thankful that John was there with her. Without him, she would've already broke and ran.

When they entered, one man stood in the middle of the room. Jack had never seen him before, but he looked somehow…familiar.

"Subect Zero." He whispered, his crazed eyes wide. "I never thought I'd se you again."

"Who are you?!" Jack yelled, bringing her weapon up.

"I was one of the children here, Jack."

"You know who I am?" She whispered.

At this point, the door opened behind them and Miranda came storming through, making a beeline for John. Her progress was halted, however, when she caught sight of the man.

"I'll take care of her." John told Jack. "You gonna be good in here?"

"Yeah." She answered, "Just fine."

Jack kept her weapon trained on the crazy as she moved to block the exit.

"Why are you here?" She asked forcefully.

"The horrors they inflicted on us, Jack." He muttered. "All for you. They must've had a good reason. I'm going to find out why."

Jack stumbled back as if she'd been hit. Just the very idea that anyone would do it again shocked her.

"You'd start this again?!" Jack yelled. "Are you nuts? There's no reason good enough."

"I-"

"Enough!" Jack yelled.

She summoned up a ball of biotic energy and slammed it into him, dropping the man to his knees. She brought the pistol up, ready to dispatch him. For the first time, something stopped her.

_He can't restart this facility. _A less animalistic part of her mind argued. _There's no way he has the resources._

It was true. She didn't know who he was, but there was no way someone as crazy as him could ever be in a position to command enough resources to restart the project.

She brought her pistol back down and delivered a kick to his ass, sending him sprawling on his stomach.

"I'm blowing this shithole up." She informed him evenly. "Get out of here. Go."

The man fled out the door. Jack turned to her room, but was surprised to hear a gunshot behind her. Startled, she walked out to find John with a cooling pistol in his hand and the nut dead on the floor. As she walked out, he looked up at her and ignored the sulking Cerberus Operative at his side.

"I'm proud of you, Jack." John told her.

"How can you say that?" She asked, confused, "You just shot him."

"Of course I did." John answered with a shrug. "Crazy or not, I won't risk even a very remote chance that he inflicts this hell on someone else. What's important is that you let him go. I'm hoping you can let this place go."

She stared at him for a good long while.

"Maybe." She finally said. "Let me take a look around. This room was my whole childhood."

"Alright." John agreed, "We'll be here."

She looked at the Marine and felt something else she had never felt in her life. It was an emotion that had only ever been described to her.

She felt like she belonged.

"I know." She answered softly, with a small smile.


	38. Chapter 38

_**Mordin Solus – Tuchanka**_

Mordin pondered to himself as they made their way to the Weyrloc camp in a transport. The news that Maelon had been tryng to develop a Genophage cure wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that whatever he was doing was so brutal that a clan chief had refused him the very thing all the krogan wanted.

Dr. Solus wondered exactly what Maelon had been doing as the vehicle stopped outside Weyrloc territory.

"You'll need to go west about a kilometer from here." The scout said, the crotchety krogan turning to look at the group. "The fighting will be thicker inside the hospital, but if our Clan Chief isn't lying about your skill, you'll be able to handle it. We've also lost a scout in this area, so send him back if you can find him. I'll be back to pick you guys up in an hour."

"Got it." Jane answered with a nod.

As he sped off, Jane gave Mordin and Grunt a significant look, indicating that she was about to give orders. It was a look that Mordin knew very well, after a couple of missions with her. Honestly, she was easily the most dangerous operator he'd ever worked alongside in his life. He trusted her word in combat.

"Grunt." Shepard said, "We're going to be up against krogan and vorcha, here. We need incendiaries. You got 'em?"

"A limited number, yeah." The krogan answered. "Six, I think."

"That'll work." Jane answered. She looked back at Mordin. "Let's hold off on those until we get into the compound. For now, standard krogan dispatch. Grunt and Mordin, keep at distance with SMG and assault rifle fire. Incineration programs at will, Mordin."

"Will do, Commander." Mordin affirmed.

"Alright." Jane replied. "Let's move."

They moved forward, with Jane in the lead. The area they were in was all destroyed roads and bridges.

They stepped onto a bridge and that was when their first resistance appeared. Two flamethrower-toting vorcha, a krogan and a pair of varren appeared on the other end and started making their way toward the group tentatively.

"Probably wondering what a diverse team is doing here." Mordin told the Commander. "Best to answer them in the most direct fashion."

He was pleased to see Jane smile in agreement as she lifted her assault rifle.

Unlike most assault specialists Mordin had dealt with, Jane didn't have a favorite assault rifle. She preferred to take whatever complimented the team and slap on mods to that effect. Right now, she was toting an Avenger. It was a simple weapon, but it was also very steady and accurate. That accuracy was supplemented by a scope on the top.

Jane lifted the rifle to her cheek and Mordin saw her go completely still, then loose one single round. He heard a metallic sound resound in the enemy group, but nothing else after that.

"You're losing your touch." Grunt growled.

"Just wait." Jane assured him. Mordin wasn't sure what she was getting at. He looked at her in obvious confusion as the enemy group roared as one and started dashing their way.

There was an explosion that rocked the bridge, flattening both of the vorcha and staggering one of the krogan. Unfortunately, the other krogan began to spray rounds down on them and forced them away from taking advantage of the dazed krogan.

Mordin surged forward with Grunt to cover, with the Commander in cover behind them.

"What the hell was that, Shepard?!" Grunt asked in clear amusement.

"Blood Pack flamethrowers have tanks that are easily ruptured and force a mixing of the chemical compounds inside!" She yelled back, the words punctuated by gunfire as they engaged the advancing hostiles. "After a few moments, the rupture will combust."

Mordin threw an incinerate program at the healthy krogan. The program detonated on him, covering him with flames. Jane fired a trio of rounds into the krogan, putting him down. Grunt had fired so many rounds into the already-wounded krogan that the brute had collapsed, not dead but too wounded to move.

Mordin put a string of SMG fire through the varren before turning to the Commander.

"Will have to remember that one, Shepard." He praised, "Will-"

"Look out!" Grunt yelled behind him.

Something struck him hard from behind and used him as a sort of launching pad to leap at Jane. The last varren, who had gone completely unnoticed in the fight, latched its needle sharp teeth onto Jane's arm.

"Gah!" She yelled, startled.

She had to drop her rifle, unable to get a proper angle on the varren hanging from her arm. She moved to strike it, but Grunt beat her to it. He grabbed the varren by the neck and slammed his fist into its face. The varren let go out of sheer shock, hanging by his neck. Grunt threw the animal off of the bridge and they heard its cry before it hit the ground below. They all glanced over the railings to find the varren limping away, whining.

"I love you, Grunt." Jane muttered.

"You injured, battlemaster?" Grunt asked.

"No." Jane replied. "Forearm plate caught it. Let's keep moving."

They didn't meet resistance until they got to the end of the bridge and into a small decline, where a pair of vorcha pyros awaited. They dispatched the two vorcha quickly, able to put them down at long range before they could get close enough to use the flamethrowers.

Finally, after ten more minutes of creeping along, they reached the door to the hospital that the Weyrloc clan was using as their base. There was resistance outside, but the three of them were able to clear it out with very little effort.

The actual struggle began in the hospital. Mordin took a left at the end to find a human body sprawled on the landing.

"Hold here, Shepard." Mordin advised the human woman. He looked down at the man's body and bent down next to him before using his omni-tool to read over the human's condition.

What he found drew a severe anger. It was an emotion Mordin was not used to feeling and as such, it was shaking him to the core.

"Human used as test subject." Mordin told the two behind him, managing to keep his voice level. "Smart."

"Why not use krogans?" Jane wondered aloud.

"Humans most genetically diverse species known in the galaxy." Mordin answered, his eyes flicking through the data. "Look past pigmentation. Genetically evolved based on area of Earth derived from. Palaven, Sur'Kesh, Thessia, not as temperamental a world as Earth."

"What's that have to do with-"

"Can predict wide vectors of reactions." Mordin cut the woman off, regretting it immediately but still forging ahead. "Make it easier for formulating vaccines."

"You seem shaken, Doctor." Grunt said. "Didn't you use to do this kind of work?"

"No." Mordin answered, his voice getting louder as he straightened and turned on the young krogan. "Used varren or dead krogan. _Never _used live test subjects!"

"Save the blood rage for the enemy." Grunt advised.

Despite the rather naive rebuke, Mordin still took the substance of the message to heart. He forced himself to calm down.

"Ready to continue, Shepard." Dr. Solus told his commander. He noticed Grunt slide a thermal clip into the Commander's hand.

Nothing happened until they got to a cell, where a krogan in Urdnot armor sat. He looked up weakly as they approached.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"What's far more important is who you are." Jane answered. "Are you the scout that we were told about?"

"That's me." He croaked. "I've been experimented on and beaten, but I plan to stay here."

"Why?" Jane asked.

"They're curing the Genophage." He answered. Mordin tried and failed to not be bothered by the hope in the krogan's voice. It was a hope for victory against the adversity that Mordin himself had placed in their way. "I have to stay."

"Oh, I get it." Grunt replied, glaring at the scout. "You got beat and now you want to cower here and pretend it was for a good cause."

"Who the hell are you?" The scout demanded, looking up at him, "I'm helping Clan Urdnot!"

"Like hell you are." Grunt answered. "I am Urdnot Grunt. You don't know me, but I am fighting for Clan Urdnot and Weryloc plans to wipe out Urdnot as soon as they cure the Genophage."

"But…" The krogan started, looking utterly ashamed, "They told me-"

"The Chief Scout wants you to come back, but it'd take a real krogan to do that, not some fool grubbing in the mud like a vorcha." Grunt taunted, his ice-blue eyes fixed on the scout's. "So how 'bout it, vorcha?"

"Screw you!" The scout yelled, standing up and glaring down the tankbred krogan. "I'm leaving this place and I'm visiting the female camp on my way back!"

"You're damn right, you are." Grunt replied with a grin, "Now go!"

The krogan roared and jogged out of the cell, heading back the way they'd came.

"Can't believe that worked." Mordin muttered.

"Krogan psychology, Doctor." Grunt answered. "Every krogan knows how to use it."

They backed out of there and into a lab. Mordin felt uncomfortable as they walked through it, until they came to a body wrapped in a black sheet on an operating table. Dried blood covered the floor and instruments on the table were covered in the same dull orange fluid.

"Need to stop again, Shepard." Mordin informed the woman, coming to a stop at the table. He could tell it was a krogan body. When he scanned this one, the anger he'd felt at the dead human wasn't even playing the same game as the rage that enveloped the slight salarian.

"Burns." He growled. "Maltreatment. Slow poisoning. Physical torture. All used to elicit responses."

"Outrage?" Jane wondered, planting her hands on the other side of the table and staring directly into Mordin's eyes. "Surprising from someone who became famous over millions of dead bodies."

"Didn't kill anyone!" Mordin yelled. "Have killed many people. Have used guns, blades, explosives, tech attacks, even farming equipment to kill. Never. Used. Medicine."

"Please." Jane muttered sarcastically, further enraging the scientist. "Your excuse of 'adjusting fertility rates' is a nice way to couch the fact that millions of krogan babies have been stillborn. A nice way to explain away that hundreds of thousands of krogans have and still are mourning the children they'll never had. Adjusting fertility rates knowing that-"

"All signs pointed to krogan aggression!" Mordin yelled angrily, "Pointed to renewed rebellions! Humanity, turians would've been mobilized to crush the krogan. There would've been no surrender, this time. They would've been killed to the last krogan. Modified Genophage to save krogan!"

He had expected a rebuttal from Shepard. Judging from the look on her face, she had one. She was beaten to it by Grunt, who had thrown the sheet off of the female krogan.

Reading the medical readout had been one thing. Seeing the krogan burned all over, eyes bulging from the agony and dried foam on her mouth from the chemicals was a whole different story.

"Look at her, salarian." Grunt ordered. Despite his wisdom, despite all of his intelligence, he could not fight the urge to look back at the brutally tortured krogan. "You tell her how much you've saved the krogan."

Mordin didn't have an answer for that. Jane silently moved out of the room and Mordin followed guiltily.

They continued on into a large room with a catwalk that led along one wall. Atop that catwalk was perched a trio of krogan, flanked by a pair of vorcha.

"I am the Clan Speaker for Clan Weyrloc!" The lead krogan bellowed, his eyes fixed on Jane. "I am here to offer you a chance to leave this place and spread the story of Weyrloc's rise to the other clans."

"If I leave," Jane replied, the tone of her voice informing Mordin that she was mocking him, "I might trip over the dozen or so dead krogan I killed on my way in."

"Those were our weakest." The Speaker answered without pause. "Hardly fit to be a part of our grand a-"

"You talk too much." Jane informed him. Mordin noticed, as she raised the Phalanx pistol, that the sides glowed red from an incendiary clip.

She fired and he saw a round ping off of a gas pipeline running under the catwalk. The krogan all raised their weapons, surprised by the sudden move.

"See!?" The Speaker yelled, "The human cannot hit a simple target!"

That must've been around the time he noticed the gas rising up from the pipe. He let out a gasp and Mordin smiled as Jane fired again.

The incendiary round passed through the vapor, so superheated that it was able to ignite the gas around it. With a _whoosh_, a ball of fire appeared an engulfed the krogans and vorcha. There were screams and yells as Shepard started firing into the flaming group, with Mordin and Grunt adding their small arms fire to the mix.

Within a few seconds, the last vorcha died and the room was quiet.

"Very clever, Shepard." Grunt praised.

"Remember, Grunt." Jane told him as they started up the catwalk, "Any warrior can be strong. The best are also clever."

Grunt nodded and Mordin could tell that he was filing that knowledge away for later use, to be called upon with all the other lessons learned on the Normandy and with the team in combat.

They found themselves in another large room, this one with a walkway surrounding the perimeter with bridges running across it.

"I am Chieftain Weyrloc Guld!" A voice bellowed at the end of the room. A half dozen krogan were awaiting, along with a few varren and a vorcha. "I will cure the Genophage and take my place as the leader of the krogan people!"

Mordin felt something in his hand and looked back to find Grunt passing him an incendiary clip. Despite his anger about the research being done in this hospital, he smiled at the perfect timing. Grunt was getting better and better all the time.

Mordin didn't use the clip immediately. As he launched an incineration program at a krogan, Shepard and Grunt opened fire.

A krogan up front dropped from the combined fire as they went to cover. As the group advanced on them, Mordin finished his original target off with the rest of his clip. As the krogan fell, the rest of them broke and began sprinting their way, desperate to reach them and close the range.

Mordin switched to the incendiary clip as Grunt and Jane both moved out of cover to close with the krogan. The warriors, not realizing the capabilities of either, were more than eager to forego the shotguns and get to melee range.

Mordin threw another incineration program that caught a krogan in the back of the pack. He emptied half the incendiary clip into the krogan, dropping their numbers to three. As the Commander engaged two krogan and Grunt went toe-to-toe with the Chieftain, Mordin began to dispatch the varren.

Jane killed her last krogan with a few rounds to the throat as Mordin finished the last varren. They both hung back to allow Grunt his fight.

Chieftain Guld swung on Grunt, who blocked the punch with his shotgun. He spun away and leveled the shotgun at the krogan's legs. He pulled the trigger and the blast obliterated the Chieftain's legs. The older krogan cried out in pain as he fell on his back. Grunt didn't waste a second kicking the Chieftain off the bridge and into the dark abyss below. His screams faded as he fell.

"If that's the Chieftain, this was a weak clan." Grunt informed the other two in the silence that followed. "Wrex would've made short work of this varren."

"That's two Chieftains you've killed today, Grunt." Jane pointed out as they continued on to the end of the room. "You're going to be quite the celebrity."

"You should've seen the breeding requests I got from the females after my Rite." He said. A slow grin spread to his face and Mordin could sense his amusement as he looked at the Commander. "As well as they breeding requests for you."

"I'm going to pretend I never heard that, Grunt." Jane replied as they walked through the door.

The lab was filled with dead krogan all over the place. There were vats all around being used for keeping krogan in suspended animation. Blood covered the room, as did the smell of fear and agony.

At the end of it was Maelon. The salarian scientist was watching the group as they approached.

"So the great Professor Solus has shown up to stop me from destroying his work." Maelon announced, sounding angry. "Shown up to keep his reputation from being tarnished."

"Never about reputation." Mordin answered, gently pushing Grunt aside to advance on the younger salarian. "About brutality, torture. If you had second thoughts about the project, why not say something?"

"How was I supposed to disagree with the great Doctor Solus?!" The salarian yelled, his wide eyes going wider with rage and frustration. "Who could I turn to?!"

"Data indicated krogan could be rallied for another attack!" Mordin argued angrily, "Could be-"

"Numbers and statistics, Doctor!" Maelon answered, directly up in the scientist's face. "Numbers and statistics we used to justify a genocide! My experiments can cure the krogan!"

"Unacceptable practice!" Mordin disagreed, "Never use torture for response! Never kill with medicine!"

"We've ended the unspent lives of millions with medicine and millions more as a result of that misery!" Maelon immediately yelled. His voice dropped to a regretful whisper. "Our legacies are set upon millions of dead krogan young. We're already doomed. Our souls can't be saved. All I want is to help undo the mistakes I've made. If a few more krogan have to die in agony to repair the damage we've done, then so be it."

Mordin had heard enough. He pulled his pistol up, sticking it directly under the salarian's chin. He backed the mad salarian up against one of the tanks.

"Unacceptable experiments, unacceptable goals." Mordin reminded him. "Won't change, no point. Have to kill you."

"Mordin, wait!" Jane yelled behind him. He hesitated, surprised that she'd try to stop him. "Why are you trying to kill him?"

"He has to pay for what he's done." Mordin answered. "He's tortured and-"

"You haven't paid for what you've done." Grunt pointed out grimly. "At least he's trying to do something over his guilt. You just whine about it and tell yourself it was necessary to avoid it. Like a coward."

Mordin went silent and unmoving, surprised by the perception behind the young krogan's blunt words.

"You see the blood and the war and the brutality of the krogan people." Jane said, moving to his right. He stared into her dark green eyes, finding himself lost in the unusual position of indecisiveness. "But you also see the pain. You see the loss and the horror of what's being done to them."

She was right, of course. Mordin knew it. For all their rage and brutality, the krogan were not inherently evil. He didn't pretend that the Genophage hadn't escalated the violence and agony they wrought upon each other.

They were a dying species, one that had to face the death of their young with no recourse and no hope for salvation as they were doomed for the sins of their ancestors. Knowing no other way out but to fight, they fought whatever was in front of them, figuring one fight was as good as another when there was no hope in sight for them.

It was a reaction he could logically understand. They had been told that their ancestors had done wrong and that they were going to all die slowly for it. No species, no matter how civil-minded, could take that kind of verdict and not react violently.

The brief encounter he'd had with Wrex had done little to assuage him of his guilt. Wrex struck Mordin as a survivor, but also a morally (for the krogan) good leader. The Clan Chief was risking a lot, but the amount of krogan that were flocking to try and save their species was encouraging. Wrex was a leader who was very savvy, driven and unwilling to let his species go out with a whisper. Had more krogan like Urdnot Wrex existed when Mordin had been on the project, the decision may have been much harder to rationalize.

As much as Mordin hated to admit it, Wrex wasn't the only leader of his kind amongst the krogan. While none were as pragmatic, strong and influential as he was, they were starting to combine under him. All of it pointed towards a possible cultural revolution in the krogan. A possibility that they had the potential to become a much more stable warrior race.

A possibility that would be denied to them.

It was all because of him. He could've cured them when he was asked to modify the Genophage to overcome their adaptation to it. He had the power in his hands. Freedom to do what he wanted on his project with no supervision. Leaders like Wrex had existed even then, though they'd been grass-root movements, rather than the most powerful clan on the planet. He could've put an end to the suffering and the doom. Instead, he'd contributed to it.

"Wasted potential." He finally said, his head hanging. "An empty species pushed to senseless violence over a loss of hope. And I'm responsible."

Maelon nodded, the crazed salarian at least pleased to hear his thoughts echoed by what had once been his idol.

"Leave, Maelon." Mordin ordered. "Do something good with talents. Perhaps open clinic on Omega? That's what I did."

"Doctor." Maelon pleaded as Mordin lowered the pistol. "The krogan need our help."

"Not like this, Maelon." He answered. "Leave."

As the salarian left, Mordin quietly gathered the data from Maelon's experiments. As unethical and brutal as they had been, the loss of life would've been pointless had he destroyed it.

"Done." He told Commander Shepard, who was watching him curiously. "Ready to be somewhere, anywhere else but here. Perhaps somewhere sunny?"

"Let's go." Jane answered, jerking her head towards the exit.

"You know," Grunt started as they left, "That varren the merchant had, Urz? I think he wanted to come with us."

"I _know _he wanted to come with us." Jane agreed as they exited the lab.

"Why not?" Grunt asked. "We can keep him."

"You'd have to feed and take care of him." Jane pointed out. "Do you think you could do that?"

"For a fellow warrior?" Grunt answered. "Absolutely."

_**Alright, for those who haven't noticed, things have started going a bit off course on the details of side missions. It won't be de-railed too far, even though some things will be changed in the ME3 story. Mostly, it will be Inclusion of another team (typically mentioned in passing) like theirs, earlier inclusion of Tali, progression of side-characters that weren't really covered (Bailey, Chakwas, etc) and a difference with the Crucible. Still, like I said, we'll be seeing the most change in the ME3 story.**_


	39. Chapter 39

_**Staff Sergeant John Shepard – Normandy SR-2**_

John stood outside the door to Engineering, not sure what he would say or do. He knew Tali was nervous about what was going on between them. He knew she didn't want to hurt him. He also knew that if this was going to work between them, he needed to be bold.

So he stepped into Engineering to find Tali hard at work at her usual console. Blessedly, Ken and Gabby were off somewhere, hopefully below deck or sleeping. John didn't hesitate. He couldn't hesitate.

He slipped his arms around the woman, closing his grip at her stomach and pulling her into him. At first she flinched, but after realizing what was going on, she relaxed. She turned her head and he found himself looking into her silvery gaze.

"John." She muttered, "I'm glad you're here. We need to talk."

"What about?" John asked, still not willing to let her go.

"It'd be easier for me to talk if I could face you." She answered, sounding somewhat amused. John let go and she turned and leaned back on her console as she looked at him. "I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" John asked, confused.

"For what's happened." She answered, sending John's heart racing in a panic. He knew this drill. She'd apologize, talk about how she was at fault, but ultimately the outcome would be the same as it always was. "I was selfish."

"Selfish?" John repeated dubiously "How so?"

"I…" She started, then stopped. She visibly collected herself before continuing. "I want you more than you can know, John. And I'm sorry for that. For not showing some self control. You deserve somebody better than me, John. Somebody you can be with whenever you want. Somebody you can hold when you need to or-"

"Tali." John answered concisely, making it clear that he was being as serious as he was capable of being, "You've never been selfish in your life. Even with the quarian doctrine of living for others, you've lived too much for everyone else and not enough for yourself."

She tried to speak, but John was on a roll and terrified that she'd break away from him. So he continued speaking.

"I don't want anybody else." John continued, gesturing to the door to make his follow-up point. "I could have Miranda. Or Liara. Or Jack. Or Kelly. Even Kasumi. I don't want them. I. Want. You."

"I don't blame you for-" Tali started, obviously expecting to be rejected. She stopped suddenly as the words hit her and John allowed a small smile to his lips as her speech died in her throat. "Oh…Thank you. You don't know what that…thank you."

"And if I only get to truly be with you one day out of the year," John started, grabbing a hand gently and stroking a thumb over it, "That would be more than enough, Bu…Tali."

"Were you about to call me 'Bucket', John?" Tali asked, sounding amused.

"I'm sorry." John answered, "Force of habit. I don't want you to think I'm trying to make fun o-"

"No." She answered, grabbing the other hand and holding it in hers'. "I kind of like it. It reminds me how far we've come since we first met and you used the name to belittle me."

"Well then, Bucket," John continued with a rare grin before his tone grew somber, "After what Gunnery Chief Williams said on Freedom's Progress, I consider myself lucky that you-"

"John," Tali whispered, cutting him off as she cupped the big human's face in a slim hand, "What she said to you was wrong. I don't care what anybody else says. She's a racist, irrational woman. What matters is I care about you and I find you incredibly attractive. Cybernetics or not."

Another grin, this time accompanied by John lifting Tali's three-fingered gloved hand to his lips and kissing it.

"Well," He said, "You've won my heart."

Tali giggled at the human's sudden ridiculousness before pressing herself against him. He took his hands out of hers and laced them behind Tali's lower back as she looked up at him.

"I promise that I'll find a way for us to be together." Tali murmured. John could feel her pressing herself to him roughly, clearly frustrated that they couldn't get past the suit. John felt equally frustrated, but would be the first to say that as long as he had the slender quarian woman in his arms, he didn't care about the suit. "Intimate moments, even amongst our species, are shared with nerve stimulators and everything happens outside the suit."

John wondered exactly how that worked, but the moment was too intimate to start talking about the mundane. John felt her hands slowly moving over his back as she spoke.

"I don't want that with you." She said, sounding hopeful."I want to feel you. I want your skin on mine. I want to take off this damn mask and show you who I really am before we finally throw ourselves into the final battle. I'll find a way."

"Well then," John replied with a smile, "Do your research quickly, Miss vas Normandy."

"I will." She whispered, her voice dropping into a husky, aroused murmur, "And hopefully, you'll find me just as attractive as I find you."

"I know you're beautiful, Tali." John answered.

"How could you know?" She asked, amused.

"I just know these things." He told her with a grin.

He saw movement over her shoulder and found both of the Cerberus engineers leaning out from the door and looking at the two of them.

"Company." John muttered.

In a flash, Tali was off of him, pretending to be working at her terminal far too late to fool anybody. John heard Ken bark out a laugh as Gabby giggled incessantly. He could tell, from Tali's posture, that she was very embarrassed.

"Thanks for coming by." She said, turning to look at John. "And for…talking."

There was an awkward pause, then she gave him a nod and turned back to her terminal. John just chuckled, unable to avoid laughing at the flustered woman.

"Attention all crew members." Came Jane's voice over the PA system. "We have a varren on board."

John's hand instinctively reached for his pistol at the announcement, until his sister kept speaking.

"His name is Urz and he is Grunt's responsibility." Jane continued, "Our little guy will be coming around with bags of varren treats for each and every crew member in case Urz wanders into your area. He has an area in the cargo hold to do his business, but if you see a mess, call Grunt. Also, make sure to congratulate Grunt when you see him for his induction into the Urdnot clan. John, I'm going to need you up here in about thirty to speak with the Illusive Man."

John nodded, then looked at Tali.

"I think I need to have a talk with Grunt." He said.

"Yeah." Tali agreed. "A varren on board is just asking for disaster."

John left Engineering and made a beeline for the cargo bay. When he entered, he found Grunt sitting on a crate. He was sorting through bags of what looked like dried meat as he pet a large, older-looking Varren at his feet.

"Grunt." John started, trying to ignore the obvious problem panting at the krogan's feet, "Congratulations on getting Wrex to get you into the clan. Heard you guys killed a thresher maw to do it."

"Yeah." Grunt replied with a wide smile. "It's all thanks to you and your sister. The two of you have taught me more about combat than any krogan could."

"Don't sell yourself short, Grunt." John told the krogan. Realizing that the krogan wouldn't understand the idiom, he continued, "You've certainly shouldered your share of combat around here."

The door opened behind him and John turned to find Kelly there, her wide green eyes on Urz.

John knew what was coming. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop it as her mouth opened wide in delight and she squealed in adoration at the varren on the floor. She rushed forward, completely ignoring everyone else in the room as she shot towards Urz.

"Careful." Grunt cautioned, "He bites and…"

The krogan's words died when Kelly reached down to the vicious varren without incident. Urz merely growled in pleasure as the woman scratched the top of his head.

"Good varren." Kelly cooed, leading to a pleased growl from Urz. "What's his name?"

"Urz." Grunt answered.

"He's adorable." She pointed out. "Yes you are!"

Grunt looked at John, who merely shrugged. It looked as though Kelly had managed to slip right past whatever made Urz a vicious killing machine.

"You going to be okay taking care of him?" John asked, "It's a big responsibility."

"I know, Shepard." Grunt snapped. From the angry tone, John could tell he hadn't been the first person to ask Grunt the same question. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he's properly fed and watered. He'll be helpful on missions."

"On that, we can agree." John admitted. "Anyways, how do you want to celebrate?"

"I was thinking that my two Battlemasters and I could do a mission together." Grunt answered with a grin. "Leave behind the tactics and guns and just go all out, for once."

"Go berserk?" John wondered. He felt a smile coming to his face. Despite himself, he knew that they'd find a mission where the three of them would be able to do exactly that. "I like it. I'll run it by Jane and we'll find that mission."

"Good." Grunt agreed as John left. He thought he'd visit the merc across the way and found himself in Zaeed's room.

With Santiago dead, Zaeed seemed to have relaxed a little bit. John just supposed that it was easier for him to maintain a conversation now that he wasn't constantly fixated on revenge. The old merc gave John an incline of the head as a greeting.

"Shepard." He greeted. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Just making sure you're good." John shrugged. "I know that was a tense mission for you."

"Don't worry, John." He assured the Marine, "Now that I got that out of the way, I'm ready to give the Collectors the business."

"Good to hear."

"Speaking of which," Zaeed continued, "I hear rumors that you're trying to give one of the crew the business."

_Of course. _Shepard groaned inwardly, _This is Zaeed. He approaches sensitive subjects with all the subtlety of a shotgun blast to the face._

"Yeah." John told him, folding his arms and leaning his back against the frame of the door. "Tali."

"The quarian?" Zaeed asked, his eyes widening a little in surprise. "Always liked the girl. May not be a battle-scarred veteran, but she's got a good head on her shoulders."

"You don't seem too surprised." John observed.

"Well," Zaeed explained, crossing his arms, "It was between her, Jack and Miranda. Miranda's likely to freeze your balls and Jack would just rip 'em off ya. I know you've got a better working relationship with the two, but anything more than working is dangerous. Tali's a very stabilizing element."

"You can say that again." Came a voice from the corner near the trash compactor.

"Goddammit, Kasumi!" Zaeed roared, rounding on the empty corner. The thief appeared from thin air, a grin on her face. "This is the sixth time!"

"Just wait until the seventh." She answered. She looked at John and the grin widened. "You're all she can talk about, you know. In that adorable 'puppy dogs and rainbows' way."

"Great." John muttered mutinously. "You're the one telling the entire crew, aren't you?"

"Guilty." She admitted, her dark eyes shining bright with mirth. "You be good to her, Shepard."

John didn't answer, not exactly comfortable to be sharing the specifics of his less-than-professional relationship with Tali.

"I should go." He told them. For some reason, the words drew a muted chuckle from both the merc and the thief. He turned away and walked through the door. He moved up to the crew deck and found both Jane and Dr. Chakwas sitting at the table having a meal. John got some of the 'varren gumbo' and took a seat across from the two women.

"So how're things going with Tali?" Jane wondered. John sighed, having known the conversation was coming.

"Good." He told her, keeping it simple.

"I've got the med-bay loaded up with dextro medical supplies." Chakwas pointed out, the older woman smiling. "In case you two want to…you know."

"At least you're more tactful than Zaeed, Doc." John replied grumpily. "He implied that I was and I quote: 'Giving her the business'."

Jane choked on a mouthful of the gumbo and started hacking, trying to get air in. John calmly swatted her on the upper back, strong enough to seriously injure most, but to Jane it was merely enough to force the food back up. Jane coughed it up into a napkin and gave a red-faced nod of thanks to John.

"Of course he'd say that." Chakwas murmured, a smile on her face. "That reminds me that we have business on the Citadel, next time the Normandy lands. He and I are going to have lunch and share some war stories. Or dinner. Hard to tell what time it is on the Citadel when there's constant daylight outside."

"How're things with Garrus?" John asked, wanting to give his sister just as much grief as she gave him.

"I haven't talked to him since Illium, honestly." Jane answered with a shrug. "I think he needs a moment to get the idea settled before we talk about it any further. Maybe after the next mission."

"Speaking of which," John said, "Grunt wants to go on a mission with just you and me and get reckless."

Jane grinned and John knew he had her.

"That sounds good." She answered. "What do you think about getting reckless the next time we meet the Collectors? Assuming we're not hitting them where they live, of course."

"It would be intimidating for them." John told her. "Plus, we haven't been able to go all out since we woke up. I know I've been holding back and I'm sure you have, too."

"Yeah." Jane said, running a thumb along her jaw line in idle thought as she visibly warmed up to the idea. "We can do that."

"Wait," Doctor Chakwas interrupted, holding up her hands to cut them off, "You three want to attack your all-powerful and technologically superior enemy like some sort of wrecking ball?"

"We're usually more about finesse, Karin." Jane admitted, somewhat guiltily, "We have more stealthy or soldier types than anything else. Still, Grunt's a berserker, John's a living tank and I should have no problem keeping up."

"Then I guess I'll have to get ready to treat two rampaging brutes after that mission." Dr. Chakwas muttered mutinously, still with a glint of humor in her eyes. "And Grunt too, I guess."

Jane laughed and John let a reserved smile show. Honestly, he considered Doctor Chakwas a very good friend on the same level as Garrus and Joker. She'd patched him up several times during the fight with Saren and to have her take lave from the Alliance just to be with the two of them was more touching to John than he'd ever tell her.

"You know," Chakwas said, looking between the two of them, "I know I rave on about your romances, but I'm just glad to see you two trying to look forward to something else than battle."

"What do you mean, Doc?" John asked. He looked on to find Jane equally confused.

"I was worried about you both." She answered, a warm look in her gaze as she watched the siblings, "John, you were so dedicated to…well…dedication, that I was worried you'd never find someone to come back to. And Jane, well, you never showed interest in anyone. I just thought you weren't interested in anything other than the Reapers."

John was interrupted from trying to process the motherly woman's statement when EDI's globe suddenly materialized in the seat next to him. They all directed their gazes to her.

"We are ten minutes out from communications range, Commander." EDI reported.

"Thank you, EDI." Jane answered.

"There has also been a new message from Ashley Williams."

John felt himself stiffen as he thought of the Alliance Marine. Chakwas looked equally surprised and a little angry, herself. He directed an admittedly enraged gaze at Jane, who shrugged in the face of his anger.

"She mailed me to let me know she was sorry for what she'd said to me on Freedom's Progress." Jane informed him. "She did specifically say that she didn't apologize for what she said to you."

"So what did you say to her?" John asked through gritted teeth.

"I had a few choice words and phrases for her that are too harsh for your innocent ears, John." Jane told him with a smirk.

"I apologize." EDI said to the table at large, the light blue orb lighting up with every syllable. "It was not my intention to cause distress."

"No harm done, EDI." John assured her. "What does the reply look like?"

"It is decidedly negative." EDI answered immediately.

"Then delete it." Jane directed the AI.

"Yes, Commander." EDI replied. They were all surprised when she didn't go away. Although she was always watching and listening, John knew that she tried to make it seem like she wasn't. He was pretty sure that EDI did it for their peace of mind.

"Something else?" Jane asked.

There was a pause, then EDI finally answered.

"No, Commander." She said, before the orb disappeared.

"Well, that was strange." Chakwas muttered, reflecting the thoughts of the three. "It's a shame about Ashley, though."

"I hit her in the mouth with the butt of my rifle." Jane argued, "I didn't really think it'd go any other way with her."

"I know what she did was wrong, but I just hate losing friends." Doctor Chakwas said, before gazing at the spot where Mess Sergeant Gardner worked. John knew the spot well. It was one that Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko used to occupy. He and Jane had never been particularly close to the Lieutenant, but everyone felt the loss.

"I hate to say this." John confided in them, "But I think we're going to lose more before everything's said and done."

The silence that followed threatened to suffocate all three of them as they looked at the spot a hero of a man used to occupy.

"We should get upstairs and see what the Illusive Man wants." Jane muttered.

"There's a friend I hope we lose." He hedged as they stood.

Dr. Chakwas gave an honest smile at that.

"Amen."


	40. Chapter 40

_**The Illusive Man – Cerberus Headquarters**_

The Illusive Man saw the ping on his terminal that indicated somebody was waiting on him to get in touch with them. He knew exactly who it was, too. The Shepards were about to be sent on a mission and it was going to be a rough one. The Illusive Man would also have to be very subtle and avoid mentioning that he knew it was trap.

No turian ship had managed to disable the Collector ship. The Illusive Man knew those birds lacked the firepower. The Shepards had shaken them on Freedom's Progress and though the Illusive Man didn't know if they felt fear, they certainly knew they had a formidable enemy chasing them.

So they'd been 'disabled' out near a Cerberus outpost, who'd been the ones that intercepted the distress signal. They undoubtedly wanted to lure the two onto the ship and then kill the threat.

And the Illusive Man planned to let their trap proceed.

Despite his misgivings on the empathy of the Commander and the inflexibility of her brother, he knew they'd be able to get something done out there and get the hell away before the ship could blow them in half.

It was a risky move, but the human leader had grown used to risky moves and bold strategies. That was what kept Cerberus alive. It was the same thing that kept the Shepards alive.

It didn't help that both of them were still unknown to him. Though they had no trouble making it absolutely clear that they were in league (or in love, in two cases) with the aliens, they made no overt arguments for or against Cerberus within sound radius of his recording devices.

It was an infuriating situation. He surrounded them with a very mild and in some cases, familiar crew. Chambers, Chakwas, Lawson, Moreau and Taylor were all supposed to blind the Shepards to the true face of Cerberus. Even the engineers were planted on the ship specifically for their outspoken support of the Shepards that got them separated from the Alliance.

He had no idea how that plan was working. The brother, who he'd assumed was a simple brute, turned out to be a lot more clever than the Illusive Man had expected. That, combined with the utter destructiveness of his mild and easygoing sister, made him a wild card on the Normandy. He was still considering having Miranda work it out so that John 'accidentally' got killed on a mission, then transported back to Chronos Station to 'revive' him.

He put down the cigarette and stroked his forehead to try and ward away an incoming headache. The issue of the Shepards' intents didn't help with how dicey the mission was becoming. The Collectors knew they were being followed by the most dangerous beings in the galaxy and had become a complete unknown as a result. The fact that he was resorting to these measures was unusual. He couldn't get ahead of them and he couldn't find the answers he needed with them. This move might be able to net him one or both of those objectives.

He hit a button on the arm as he brought the bourbon to his lips. The warm liquid soothed him and helped keep his head clear. At least for a while longer. In moments, the Shepard siblings showed up on the QEC, both of their looming forms rather foreboding.

"Commander, Staff Sergeant." He greeted with an incline of the head, "We caught a break."

"What happened?" Jane asked in her usual drawl, the human Spectre crossing her arms and leaning on her back leg.

"That ship you encountered on Freedom's Progress was found." The Illusive Man answered, washing the words down with more of the bourbon. "A turian cruiser stumbled upon it, then disabled it before the damage it took destroyed the cruiser."

The statement had a strange effect on the siblings. Jane grinned up at her brother, who returned it with a smirk.

"Something amusing?" The Illusive Man wondered, not entirely sure what to make of the reaction.

"We've been looking for a chance to strike at them." Staff Sergeant Shepard answered, the grin remaining on his face as his eyes connected with the organization's leader. "Or more specifically, to scare them."

"Interesting." The Illusive Man muttered. It could work, assuming they could pull it off. "From the reports on Freedom's Progress, it does seem like the Collector's share a sort of connection with each other. What you do to one may even reach back to the base."

"Or Harbinger." Jane replied. The Illusive Man was warming to the idea more and more. "You rebuilt us, specifically John, to be unstoppable juggernauts. We thought that we'd bring Grunt along when we hit the Collectors next. That way…"

"You just mow them down quickly and destructively." The Illusive Man agreed. "If Harbinger's there, he'll get to see both of you in full form. I don't know if the Reapers can be scared, but we'll certainly give them the opportunity."

"Exactly." Jane told him. "Meanwhile, we'll get some infiltration from EDI to figure out how they get in and out of the Omega Four Relay."

"Be careful, Comander." He advised the woman. "EDI may be on our side, but remember the technological capabilities of who the Collectors get their tech from."

"We'll be careful." Jane told him.

"Then good luck and good hunting." The Illsuive Man told the two. "Make sure they never forget who's coming after them."

"They won't." John promised, right before the feed dropped.

The Illusive Man sat back and brought up a display over the QEC and continued what he'd been doing before the two had called him back.

"Too morally upstanding and too much bad history." He muttered to himself as he stared at a picture of Councilor Anderson. If the Illusive Man could at least get a Councilor on his side, things would change greatly for the organization. Anderson, however, was too idealistic and there was too much bad blood between him and Cerberus. He needed a different angle. "Maybe an associate…"

He flipped through a few more files before he found an interesting one.

"Donnel Udina." He recited as he took another pull on the cigarette, looking at the face of the man who'd been the Councilor back when humanity had merely been a Citadel species.

The Illusive Man read through the file, as he came up with a plan. Finally, he made his decision. He moved over to a comm. interface and rang up their 'accountant'.

"Yes, sir?" Illia asked, her voice eager.

"Donnel Udina." The Illusive Man told her. "Transfer a hundred thousand credits as a peace offering, if you will, between Cerberus and the Alliance."

"It will be done, sir."

The smooth talking woman hung up and the Illusive Man smiled. Donnel Udina would be easier to manipulate, easy to treat with. The Illusive Man could support his move to become a Councilor once Anderson stepped down, as he suspected the fish out of water would.

_With luck, _The Illusive Man thought to himself, _I'll be speaking to the Council through this man in mere months._


	41. Chapter 41

_**Urdnot Grunt – Collector Vessel**_

Grunt couldn't believe his luck. Mere hours after asking and he was here on their enemy's ship with his Battlemasters.

The quarian and the turian had both been angered that they couldn't go, much to Grunt's surprise. Tali had never struck him as much of an eager warrior and Garrus would be out of his element on the ship. Still, they'd relented once the Shepards explained their reasoning behind the choice.

It was the reason there were only three of them. Nobody else had the raw offensive power and ability to continue momentum like they did. Snipers, biotics and tech specialists were best at inflicting casualties in a defensive or slow-moving battle.

"Attacking the enemies head on with my Battlemasters at my side." Grunt said as they stepped down from the shuttle and into the distinctly alien ship. "This is going to be fun."

He had expected a welcoming committee when they stepped off the transport, but as he looked around the brown and machine-laden cavern and hallways, he didn't spot anything. The krogan grunted in annoyance as the Shepards took up point.

_I want something to kill. _He thought to himself, disappointed in the lack of enemies.

It was still interesting to look around as they moved forward. The inside of the ship looked like the Rachni hives that his tank imprints had supplied him with the memories of. As they moved into a room with computer consoles, Grunt saw more of those pods the Collectors had been using on Freedom's Progress.

"What do you think, Jane?" John wondered as they moved to the pods. "Should we all do shotguns or assault rifles?"

"For intimidation?" Jane asked, "Shotguns."

John seemed to nod his agreement, much to Grunt's pleasure. He enjoyed using his Revenant, but the Claymore was so much better. While it could only fire a single round before the thermal clip needed changing, there were few enemies it wouldn't shred on the first hit. He'd been practicing his reload and had gotten it down to just over a second between shots.

John and Jane both stopped ahead of him and inspected the body in the pod. As Grunt walked up, he was surprised to find a Collector in there.

"Why are one of their own people in the pods?" He wondered.

"It looks like the Collectors were running tests." Jane answered, looking up at the screen nearby. "EDI, run a scan on this terminal."

"Acknowledged." EDI confirmed.

"Think it's alive?" John asked.

_Only one way to be sure it's not._

Grunt lifted the Claymore and fired, the obscenely powerful shotgun tearing a sizable hole through the Collector's midsection. The Collector didn't stir.

"No." He told his Battlemaster.

John grinned as Jane looked at the screen.

"I was unable to find out what they were doing." EDI answered over their comm. units, "But I did find something interesting. I was able to pull a piece of the DNA strain they analyzed of themselves and found a similar strain. Though heavily modified, only one species shares their structure."

"Who's that?" John wondered.

"The Protheans."

Even Grunt was surprised by the revelation, staring at the bipedal insectoid alien in shock. Despite his general apathy to anything, even he could be interested in situations such as these.

_They die like anything else, though. _Grunt thought to himself, looking at the Shepards. _They even die easier, for people like us._

"The Reapers didn't kill every single Prothean." Jane whispered in shock, "They repurposed some of the. Turned them into husks."

"The Protheans fought long and hard." Grunt replied, drawing on his imprints. "They were warriors. They don't deserve this face."

"Killing them is a mercy." John pointed out to his sister. "We're doing them a favor, if anything."

"True." Jane answered with nod. She put a hand to her earpiece. "EDI, keep us updated."

"Will do, Commander."

They continued on. Much to Grunt's frustration, they weren't finding any enemies.

"I don't like this." Grunt said aloud. Both of the Shepards looked back at him and he could tell they shared the same sentiment. "This feels like a trap."

"Agreed." Jane told him.

"Speaking of which," Joker came in over their comms, "EDI's got an interesting bit of information for all of you."

"On a hunch, I compared the profile of this ship against the ship that attacked the original Normandy." EDI informed them all. "They are an exact match."

Most people would've been concerned at the number of revelations thrown at them in the last couple of minutes. Others would've been terrified that the enemy that killed them was the exact enemy they were about to fight. Grunt knew his Battlemasters, though. They weren't scared of anything, least of all scared by those who'd killed them.

Grunt was satisfied to find that he had guessed correctly. Neither of the Shepards looked particularly surprised or scared by the new information. In fact, Staff Sergeant Shepard sent his sister a reserved smile.

"Looks like we're getting the chance at some payback." He told her as they continued on. "I'm going to enjoy this."

"Assuming we ever find anyone," Jane replied in what was clearly frustration at the situation. Grunt certainly agreed with the sentiment. He wanted to destroy their enemies, not walk around on their ship without incident. "I'll enjoy it, as well."

They spent the next couple of minutes walking without a problem, easily making way through the creepy hallways uncontested.

That was when they made it into a massive chamber, the size of which could fit at least three or four dreadnoughts. Grunt looked around in amazement as the three of them stopped, taking in the sight. The pods they'd all seen on Freedom's Progress lined the walls of the immense structure. Through the middle of it was a row of platforms.

"My God…" John whispered. "They could abduct every human in the Terminus Systems and still not have enough pods."

"They're going to attack Earth." Jane reasoned.

_Earth. _Grunt remembered from the imprints. _Human homeworld. It's nearly impossible to invade, surrounded by fleets and cluttered with anti-aircraft point defenses on surface. Not to mention how formidable human warriors are as a whole due to their non-rigid military doctrines._

It was true. The imprints had told him the humans were not to be trifled with. While soft on an individual basis, they were known for their versatility in combat. They didn't have a strict military doctrine like the asari, turians and salarians. They were able to change their warfare depending on who they fought. That, combined with their stalemate with the vastly superior turians in the First Contact War, had earned them the adversarial respect of the krogan.

_Especially when there are human warriors like the Shepards._

"Fuck they are." John replied, breaking forward into a stride before anyone else. "Let's go kick them in the ass."

Grunt felt a grin returning to his face as he followed his Battlemasters down through something of a canyon created by the walls and onto a metal platform with a semi-circle of terminals planted in the middle.

"You ready, EDI?" Commander Shepard asked, activating her omni-tool. Grunt checked their rear, to find the area clear.

"Battlemaster." Grunt muttered, catching John's attention. The Marine looked at Grunt and the krogan could sense the same disquiet that was unsettling him. Disabled or not, this ship should've been overflowing with Collectors and they hdn't even glimpsed any adversity. "This has to be a trap. No way we haven't been detected."

"I know it's a trap and I'm glad you see it, as well." John answered, much to Grunt's pleasure. "Be prepared. You're going to have to keep up."

Most would've seen the last part as an insult, but Grunt saw it for what it really was.

A challenge.

Grunt was about to answer in kind when everything shifted around them. The tubes lining the small platform started to move, with a loud clacking sound from each. This was followed by a loud boom echoing through the colossal chamber.

It could've been a lot of things, but Grunt had his suspicions, which he immediately voiced.

"A signal." He theorized.

He wasn't ignored, but John was gazing back the way they came, his Eviscerator in his hands. Grunt followed suit, unfolding his Claymore as Jane began speaking.

"EDI, what's going on?" She asked, her voice slightly stressed.

"I am fighting an attack." The AI answered for all of them to hear. Grunt felt his blood surge with adrenaline and glee as he realized they'd soon be facing the enemy. "This is a trap and I am nearly tasked to capacity. The distress signal was fake, its structure lacking the proper protocols of a turian distress signal. The Illusive Man knows those protocols and wouldn't have been fooled."

"He knowingly sent us into a trap?!" John yelled in rage. "He's dead."

Grunt wasn't paying attention to them. He saw movement at the entrance to the chamber and the telltale chattering of their mortal foe. The familiar insects gathered at the entrance, nearly a dozen strong.

Grunt started towards the enemy, his shotgun coming up. He was surprised to when a giant figure rushed past him, moving so fast that it was a blur. The figure slammed into one of the Collectors, crushing the bug. The figure turned out to be John and he spun to engage another as Grunt neared the melee.

He was outpaced at Jane sprinted past him, the woman moving faster than any human had a right to. She wasn't much more graceful than John, launching herself around a Collector and slamming into its midsection, bringing it down under her.

Then Grunt was amongst them. He fired the Claymore into the first one, obliterating its midsection as he spun to meet another target. He reared back and slammed his head into it as the Collector brought its weapon up. He didn't feel a thing as the telltale crunch of the enemy's skull reverbated through his head. He laughed in glee as he whirled around, slamming his fist into a third Collector too quickly for it to attack him. The force of the blow was too much for the enemy, who collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Feeling satisfaction and adrenaline pushing through his veins, the krogan supersoldier looked around to fight the rest of the Collectors down, courtesy of the uninjured Shepards.

"Back to the shuttle." Jane ordered to the both of them, "Let's move."

The concise order kicked Grunt into action as she moved to the lead. John was next to him, the human not looking the least bit winded as they jogged back the way they'd come. Grunt looked at the man and received an appreciative nod in return.

"You keep up well." John praised. The krogan knew that the Marine didn't give out that kind of reserved praise lightly and felt a swelling of pride sweep through him as they reached another wide chamber.

This one was much simpler. The Collectors couldn't spread out and as such, were easy to pick off one at a time.

Grunt was having an easy time of it. Krogan didn't die as easily as the rest of the galaxy. Redundant nervous systems, heavy armor, a protected skull and extra organs made krogan a nightmare in combat. It was something that Grunt was able to use to his advantage as he swept through the chamber like a destructive wind of death.

If he was a wind, though, the Shepards were a hurricane. Both of their styles were different, but designed specifically to rapidly inflict death. John lumbered through the fights gracelessly, but with so much strength and raw power that the Collectors found themselves on the very wrong end of a close-quarters fight each time he closed with them. He was also using his biotics to raise his barriers when appropriate and close or distract the enemy to get to melee range.

Jane was much more refined. She relied on speed and grace to close with her targets. She didn't prefer to grapple, though she was more than capable of it. Instead, she moved from cover too quickly for the Collectors to hit her, then obliterated them with her shotgun. Despite her usual complete lack of a temper on a personal basis (the one thing Grunt didn't seek to emulate from her), her eyes were wide with rage and adrenaline as she hopped from position to position and dispatched the Collectors.

In less than thirty seconds, the tunnels were cleared of their enemy, who had numbered at least twenty before the fight.

"You truly have no equal as Battlemasters." Grunt praised as they started jogging again.

"And you could give Wrex a run for his money." Jane returned in kind.

They emerged into another wide open space, with two tiers. They were on the top, with two walkways leading down to the lower level.

"I have opened a door at the end of this chamber." EDI informed them, "Please get there quickly."

They started forward, until one of those floating abominations showed up, accompanied by a trio of troopers.

Grunt looked to his Battlemasters for guidance on how to deal with the formidable threat as the looming creature started towards them with its troopers in tow.

"Grunt." Jane ordered, "You concentrate on the troopers. We'll take the big guy."

"On it!" He yelled as the three of them surged forward.

John disappeared from sight, using biotics to charge the Praetorian. The giant human hit the Collector so hard that the construct was knocked back and separated from its support. Jane was there in a instant, pumping a shotgun round into the Collector and strafing to the side as it got up.

The three troopers were spinning to deal with the Shepards, but Grunt was close enough to shut them down. He kicked out at the back of the lead trooper's knee, the simple move enough to temporarily topple the Collector. He fired the Claymore into the second trooper, shredding the thing's head.

The third fired, but the rounds bounced uselessly off Grunt's armor. He was too close for the Collector for it to properly aim at anything other than center mass. He grabbed the former Prothean by the face and kicked it off its feet. He continued with the downward force from his hand as it fell, putting hundreds of pounds of force through the trooper's face and crushing its head when it landed.

He heard a cry of pain from both of his Battlemasters, but was too busy to take stock of them as he stomped on the first one, who was in the process of getting up. The impact crushed the Collector's spine and pinned it to the floor, making it simple for Grunt to send his foot through the back of the trooper's head.

With a satisfying crunch, it stopped moving and Grunt looked up to assess the situation.

The Praeatorian was down, but it had nailed both of his Battlemasters. Jane had a hand to her gut and Grunt could see that crimson human blood leaking out from under hand. At least she was still presentable, unlike her brother.

John had been scraped in the face by one of the lasers. His skin was gone, revealing a disquieting white and silver left cheekbone under what had been skin. Worse, though, was his eye. The laser had boiled it away, revealing the red ocular lens underneath. As he looked, the circular construct rotated to find Grunt.

"Good job." John told the krogan, not even slightly concerned with the damage, "But we need to go. Now. Jane, you good to move?"

"I'll live." She replied. "We're almost there."

"The ship's powering up, Commander." Joker told them over the comm. line. "You need to hurry! I'm not losing another Normandy."

They jogged, albeit a little slower, through the door. Grunt saw their shuttle perched on the lower level, about a hundred meters from the door.

Between the door and the shuttle were dozens of husks. They hadn't noticed their presence yet, but they had mere seconds before one of the zombies spotted them. Grunt estimated at least forty of them.

"Grunt." Jane started, looking at the krogan. Grunt looked down at the human. He saw the pain at the normally mortal wound at the woman's gut, but also saw the steady determination in her eyes. The unfailing determination of both the siblings was one of the things Grunt admired most about them. "I'll take the controls. You and John both switch to assault rifles. We're going to blow through them, then load up on the shuttle. You two repel them as I take off."

"Will do, Shepard." Grunt agreed, grabbing onto his Revenant. At his side, he saw John pulling out his Vindicator.

"I'll take the lead with Grunt." John answered, "Jane, you keep close and give us a cough or something if you need someone to carry you."

"Screw you."

With that, they started sprinting as fast as they could. The horde of husks turned as one to meet them, but John wasn't without a plan. The man held a hand out and a sudden blast of biotic energy surged from it. Grunt knew the move from what he'd seen of Jack. It was a shockwave, a blast of biotic energy aimed in a direction that was best at taking enemies off their feet.

Grunt wasn't as complicated. He simply slammed into the husks, their weight unable to meet the charge of an eight-hundred pound krogan in armor sprinting at them. He bulled through them, knocking them aside as they scythed through the crowd.

Almost as quickly, they were out of the crowd. Grunt turned to find that Jane had cleared the throng as well, moving a little slower than the two but still faster than most would under that kind of wound.

The husks were starting to recover and Grunt sprayed fire from the powerful machine gun as Jane moved past him. He was joined by John, who was putting down husks with three-round bursts as they backed towards the shuttle.

Grunt's back found metal and he hopped up into the body of the shuttle.

"Reloading!" He heard John yell.

"Covering!" He bellowed as he heard the shuttle start up. As John reloaded, he continued to spray fire, keeping it as sparse as possible while holding off the group. John jumped backwards, sliding into the bay just as the shuttle took off. The doors closed as they exited the Collector ship and headed for the shuttle bay of the Normandy.

Grunt didn't comment as they landed in the familiar bay. He knew both of the Shepards were more concerned with getting the Normandy out of harm's way than recounting the battle.

"We're in!" Jane yelled over the shuttle's comm system as the bay door closed. "Illium, Joker!"

"Aye aye!" The pilot answered. There was a familiar jerk as the ship entered its jump and Grunt heard John breathe a sigh of relief. "And we're away."

"Good job, Joker." Jane said from the pilot's chair. "John and I need to go to the medbay, we took injuries."

"Understood." Joker replied. "Is Grunt alright?"

Grunt wasn't sure what to think of Joker. On one hand, the pilot was weak and Grunt could easily kill him with a well-aimed punch. On the other hand, Joker didn't pretend to be a tough soldier. He had accepted the disease that ravaged him and adapted to a skill that kept him in combat but out of physical confrontations. To hear the slight concern, though, was something unfamiliar to the tank-bred krogan.

"Yeah." Jane answered, opening the door, "He's fine."

Grunt looked over to find John looking at him, the big human's blue and red eye on him.

"And he did us proud." John finished.


	42. Chapter 42

_**Doctor Karin Chakwas – Normandy SR-2**_

The woman frowned at the charges on her operating beds, both of them knocked out from a double dose of sedatives. Both of them had been reckless, though willing to admit it.

She hated seeing the Shepards hurt. It tore her heart out every time either one of them limped into the med-bay, needing the doctor to patch them up so they could go back out and fight a hopeless war for a thankless galaxy.

While she understood why they wanted to berserk against the Collectors on their ship, she wasn't pleased about it. Jane's injury had been conventional enough, but Chakwas had to stitch the Commander up pretty good, which would prevent the woman from going into combat for another couple of days.

John was a whole different matter. Whereas Jane's injury had been alarming, John's had been unsettling. Karin had done her best not to let it show how disquieting she found the false crimson eye and partially metal cheekbone, but she was afraid her disgust had shown through. As a result, there'd been a hint of self-loathing from the man when he'd been put under, something Karin was ashamed of making him feel.

She didn't find the implants in either of them unnecessary, but it wasn't something to easily come face-to-face with. The glowing spidery lines across both of their faces weren't that off-putting. However, it was one thing to hear about all the surgery done on them and another to see a quarter of a man's face laid open and the machines exposed.

_They're still the same Shepards you've grown to love. _She assured herself, not for the first time since she'd seen the damage.

As a result of their injuries and the general weariness of the crew, Jane had instructed Joker to dock at Illium for a couple of days of shore leave. Joker had been more than happy to, citing a need to visit the Eternity Bar out there.

Most of the crew was already off the ship. Chakwas herself had a 'date' with Zaeed in a few hours. She just wanted to make absolutely sure the Shepards had both settled in and were healing correctly before she left. Jane had been relatively simple to patch up, considering Karin's decades of experience with battle wounds. She'd been forced to call Miranda in for help with John, since his required more science than it did medicine.

Karin wasn't as divided with the Cerberus Operative as she'd first been with the woman when they'd begun the mission. As she watched Miranda hover over John, inspecting the bandages, she marveled at how far Miranda (and the rest of the crew for that matter) had come since the beginning of the mission. They had the Shepards to thank for all of it.

"You taking a break?" Miranda asked as she approached the exit.

"Of course, dear." Karin assured the rather dangerous woman, "I just want to be there when they wake up in a few minutes and make sure they're fine before I leave."

She received a smile from the woman, albeit a more reserved one than she usually saw. Miranda seemed more preoccupied now than when she'd first met the femme fatale. Jane had briefly explained to Karin that she'd had a long talk with Lawson about Cerberus and their uneasy alliance with the organization. Karin wondered if that had anything to do with it.

Or it could've been the anger the entire crew was feeling towards the Illusive Man. The last mission had been a trap and he'd known it. While he'd been willing to send the Shepards directly at the trap, he'd been unwilling to tell them that they'd be in extreme danger. Still, they'd gotten useful intel that had explained how they would get through the Omega Four Relay.

At least, that's what John had told her. With his sister down for the count, he'd been forced to speak with the Illusive Man himself. John told Karin that he felt dirty afterwards, but at least knew they were still heading in the right direction. When she asked if they'd be going after the Collectors now, he'd merely said that the crew wasn't ready for the assault.

She deferred to his judgment, of course. The man knew almost as much about leading

soldiers as she did about medicine, surgery and combat wounds.

"I've got to go." Miranda told the doctor, "I've got an…appointment."

"With Jacob." Karin said, not fooled in the slightest, "I know. Go have fun, darling."

_It seems like everybody on this ship is hooking up, these days. _Karin mused. _I suppose it's the mission. With certain death facing us, why wouldn't people be trying to find a last little bit of solace?_

She was interrupted from her thoughts when Miranda walked out and Karin heard stirring from John's operating table. She turned to find the big Marine getting up, pawing at the wrapping over the wound.

"Don't do that." Karin advised him sternly, walking over to survey the damage. "You'll counteract the healing process."

With a groan, SSgt. Shepard dropped the hand before looking at Karin. The doctor couldn't see his wound, which was alright with her. She didn't think any less of him for what he was, but she wasn't eager to see it.

"Is it bad?" He asked, his one natural blue eye looking at her.

For once, Dr. Chakwas noticed a slight tone of uncertainty and fear in his voice. She felt the slightest bit of sorrow for his plight. She'd heard what Ash had said to him on Freedom's Progress and wish she could've been there to rain fire and brimstone on the Marine. Still, she supposed Jane had paid back in full. Possibly a little more than full.

_She always was big on overkill._

"Afraid it is." She told him somberly, as though announcing the death of a loved one. "You're ugly."

It had the desired effect. John let out a laugh and the tension seemed to seep from him. Karin smiled fondly and patted the Marine on the shoulder, letting him know everything was okay.

"Seriously, Doc, what's the damage?"

"Entirely superficial." Dr. Chakwas informed him. "You probably didn't feel pain because the nerve endings aren't there anymore. The beam still boiled away the skin at the cheekbone and eye, leaving the cybernetics exposed."

"Hm." John grunted, scooting against the bulkhead so he could rest in a seated position. "Miranda builds it to last."

"That she does." Chakwas agreed, "Even-"

She was interrupted when the door opened and Tali came storming into the medbay. Karin wasn't surprised to find that the quarian woman hadn't taken her leave. There wasn't much Tali could do on Illium by herself. John would have to come with her so she could avoid being singled out in the intolerant city of Nos Astra.

Even Karin could sense the anger surrounding the young woman. She may have been meek on most occasions, but had lately started becoming slightly emboldened now that the awkwardness between her and John had been replaced by something far better.

"You bosh'tet." She growled at John the moment she was by the bed, "You…you don't look bad, actually. Are you really injured?"

"Yeah." He answered. "Remember those floating Collectors? Caught a beam from one of them. Doc was just telling me it's all surface damage, no real issues."

"Surface damage?" She repeated, fingers going to the wrapping. "Let me see."

"Doc?" John asked, looking up at Karin. He undoubtedly wanted Dr. Chakwas to tell Tali that she couldn't look at the damage.

She planned to do nothing of the sort. The wrapping was to keep John from scratching at the solution around the wounds that would gradually regrow the tissue. Plus, she wanted to get this out of the way. If Tali was going to have a problem with what John had become, Karin would prefer it happened sooner, rather than later.

"There's no reason not to." Dr. Chakwas answered to John's clear dismay.

He moved to grab Tali's hands and stop her, but the woman was too fast. She pulled the wrapping off and cursed in surprise, stumbling backwards as metal shone from under his face and one bright crimson lens stared back at her.

She stood in shock as he hastily pulled the bandage back down, covering the wound as best he could. Karin saw shame in his features as she readjusted the bandage so that it covered everything completely. Tali didn't speak through the entire process and John couldn't even look at her.

Silence hung in the air as everyone tried to find the words to say.

"Sorry." John finally muttered.

Never in her life had she heard John apologize for anything. He'd tell people that he understood their anger, that he understood why people took what he did or said the wrong way, but he never apologized for the way he was or what he said. To see him apologize for Tali's overreaction broke Karin's heart.

She started to say something decidedly…negative…to the quarian, when Tali reached up and grabbed up John's hand. She rested the other one on his chest and locked onto his gaze.

"You don't have to apologize." She said quietly. "I was just surprised and I overreacted."

John didn't answer and Karin could see him weighing the words, wondering if they were sincere or out of misplaced shame. Apparently, Tali saw the same thing.

"I really care about you, John." She continued, pulling the bandage off and exposing the gruesome wound again. "I don't care what Cerberus put into you. Whatever they did to you brought you back. Back to me."

Karin turned away from the pair so they couldn't see her smile, only to find Jane awake and watching the proceedings with a smirk.

"Well," John answered, pulling her close, "We are having some quick shore leave while Jane rests, so why don't we make the most of it?"

"I don't know whether to cheer or cry." Jane drawled in clear sarcasm. John and Tali both jumped to find their sister watching them and Dr. Chakwas had to choke back a laugh.

"I've got an idea." Clamored another voice as the door opened. "How about you cry over the shame of getting injured because I wasn't there?"

Garrus strode into the bay, an angry glare fixed on Jane. Jane sigh0ed and shook her head impatiently at the turian.

"We couldn't bring you, for what we were trying to accomplish." Jane told him. "You know that. We explained it to both of you."

"Instead, you brought Grunt." Tali answered angrily, "Who-"

"Did a hell of a job." Jane answered with a shrug. "He killed at least a quarter of our total kills and got out without a scratch, which isn't bad. John and I went a little overboard and got careless."

"Watch where you're throwing those accusations, Jane." John grumbled. Garrus seemed to finally see John who, in his excitement, hadn't noticed John's injury. He took the sight in and a smirk seemed to cross the turian's face.

"Finally," Garrus said, his voice several different shades of amused, "Someone as ugly as me."

"Not for long." John answered, "I've got a week before this stuff works its magic and returns the face to new."

Garrus looked back at Jane expectantly and she sighed. Karin had to admit that she was surprised how quickly the two had grown close. She knew that they were still at the beginning of their relationship, but she had always known the two would eventually realize how much they cared about the other.

"Garrus." Jane told him, her voice soft again, "Whatever I may feel towards you, my brother, Tali, Karin, Joker or the rest of the crew…we have a job to do. I'm supposed to kill the Collectors and we all know it may very well be a one-way trip."

The med-bay went silent as they all thought that over. It was a possibility that all of them knew and one they frequently made sure to never mention. The trip the Omega Four Relay was referred to as a 'suicide mission' for a reason.

Still, Karin couldn't bring herself to believe that they wouldn't make it. Like everyone else on the crew, she knew that the Shepards would bring them through if they had to carry them through the void themselves.

"I don't feel much like a date." Tali muttered miserably, loud enough for everyone to care. "Too much to do."

"Me neither." Garrus admitted, the turian unusually glum, "I'd rather get this whole ordeal over with and settle afterwards."

"Tell you what." John told Tali, "Liara needs a hand with something. While the crew has their rest, we'll take care of it after getting something to eat. We'll even bring Kasumi along, too, since I hear she's bored out here.."

"And I got a message from Samara that she wants something." Jane told Garrus. "There's plenty of the action crew around who would rather fight and we'll bring them with us. I won't be in any danger."

Karin was conflicted on the ideas. On one hand, they were both injured (John less so) and needed their rest. On the other hand…

"I'd stop you." The Doc said, "But I get the strangest feeling that shooting things is what you four consider shore leave."

They all smiled. At least, Chakwas was pretty sure they did. The raising of Garrus' mandibles and the slight narrowing of Tali's eyes told her as much.

John was the quickest to answer.

"Guilty, Doc."

_**Alright, moving on to the latter half of the story. Still planning on doing ME3. with some changes. Like I said, it won't be utterly soul crushing like my other FF, but it's based on one of the most gloomy games I've ever played so it s will have its moments. I'm planning on covering everything in ME3 EXCEPT the Leviathan DLC, N7 missions and Citadel runarounds.**_

_**As for this one, I will skip the Overlord DLC in the interest of time. So while John does LOTSB, Jane will be doing loyalty missions and such. **_

_**I always intended it to be that way. John truly is supposed to be the subordinate to his sister and somewhere in between one of the crew and the Commander. Jane is supposed to be more in touch with the crew than he is, with the exception of Tali, obviously.**_

_**I think I'll have the LOTSB span a few chapters while Jane wraps up Samara, Miranda and Thane's loyalty missions between chapters. That should be everybody before they find the Reaper IFF (And Legion).**_


	43. Chapter 43

_**Liara T'Soni – Illium**_

_Goddess, this has been such an awful day. _The asari information broker thought to herself, staring at the hologram in front of her.

Jarim was a good source of information. One she was being forced to lean on harder than she'd like. She supposed it just came along with the territory.

"So let me make this easy." She told the human, who looked a little bit surprised by the asari's sudden change from 'mild' to 'threatening'. Liara wasn't scared of the man and it showed. She'd helped the Shepards track down one of the most dangerous men in the galaxy and stop a geth armada. Some sniveling thug didn't bother her. "You give me the information I need and I won't flay you alive. With my mind."

On that ominous threat, she cut the channel. She heard something behind her and turned.

John stood there, looking bigger and more intimidating than ever. He has some sort of bandage covering a quarter of his face, obscuring his left eye from view. Even with the thin crimson lines of cybernetics running their way through his right jaw and cheek, he looked every bit as attractive as he had when she'd first been traveling with the two.

Next to him was Tali. Liara had heard she'd joined up with them, but the engineer seemed to have changed in the last two years. Something about her seemed more self-assured and confident, not to mention that the new suit she had accentuated a few curves that Liara never knew she had.

_She's done a little growing of her own._

Last was a petite human woman dressed in a skintight catsuit complete with a hood. Liara couldn't make much of the woman's features, aside from the makeup on her small lips leading down to a thin chin. Light brown eyes seemed to glitter under the hood.

"John." Liara whispered breathily. Even though she knew they'd be coming eventually, it was still a surprise to see him. She'd waited for this moment for two years. "Nyxeris! Hold my calls!"

She strode forward and threw her arms around him, feeling a world of tension seep from her as she held him tight. He reciprocated, but it was plainly a neutral embrace, the kind usually seen between friends.

That set the tone for Liara as she stepped back. She looked over to see Tali radiating a slight hostility towards the asari woman.

"Watch yourself, girl." The small human woman said, nudging Tali in the ribs softly. Liara wasn't quite sure what the woman was getting at, but let it go past without coment.

"Nice to see you again, Tali." Liara cautiously ventured. "And Miss Goto, I assume."

"You too, Liara." Tali answered. The words and tone were warm enough, though Liara couldn't understand why the woman seemed a little bit cross with her. "I see you've dropped the 'innocent scientist' job."

"That I have." Liara agreed. "Now I horde information instead of share it, it seems."

"Speaking of which." John said quietly as she seated herself. She looked up at the man to find him slipping a datapad from a pocket of his armor, "I have information here on the Shadow Broker you might find interesting."

"You do?" She asked, feigning surprise. While she didn't exactly trust Cerberus' intentions with the Shadow Broker, she did trust that John and Tali would both be willing to help. She didn't know Goto personally, but assumed that she was loyal enough to follow orders. "What is it?"

He placed the datapad on the desk and she looked at it. She expected names, dates, places. For the most part, that's all she got. What she did _not _expect was Ferron's face to pop up on one of the pages and surprised her.

_Oh…_She thought to herself fondly as she looked at the picture of the drell agent who'd helped her recover the bodies of both Shepards. She'd assumed he was dead, but dropped the datapad in surprise when she found a section that said otherwise.

For a moment, under the curious gazes of the three people in her office, Liara went still and her mind went blank. After a moment of shock, the calm part of her mind realized what this meant.

"Ferron…" She muttered, looking up at John. "He helped me recover your bodies. He betrayed the Shadow Broker and let…"

She stopped talking, looking up at John fearfully and hoping none of them would connect the information. Unfortunately, she could see him stringing together everything quickly.

"Let Cerberus take us." He replied. His voice was as neutral as she'd ever heard it, indicative of him not trying to give anything away.

"How dare you-" Tali started, anger in her voice, but John cut her off.

"It's okay, Tali." He told her.

That was the first time she had ever heard him refer to Tali (or anyone besides his sister) by her first name. She hated that she immediately knew what to make of it, her overactive mind trying to find a way to leverage that knowledge against him.

_He's a friend. _She reminded herself. At one point, she'd hoped he'd be more, but that hadn't happened. Not to mention that, with the glance she noticed John and Tali pass each other, it might never happen.

"I don't hate you for it, T'Soni." John continued, with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "It was necessary. Now, what're you going to do with this information?"

"I know what I'm going to do." She said, her voice becoming far more firm than she was used to, "I've made plans for this eventuality, but it looks like I'm going to have to put them in motion quicker than intended."

"What can we do to help?" John asked.

Despite her recent revelation, she smiled to herself. Despite his mean streak, he was always there to help his crew and those he couldn't bring himself to call 'friends'.

_Same old John. _She thought to herself, _Then again, it's been two years for us and a few weeks for him._

"I'll see where this information leads me and let you know." She answered.

"We'll drop by your apartment later." John promised. "Tali, Kasumi and I are going to get something to eat and then I'll be there. Okay?"

Liara nodded at him wordlessly, lost in thought on her way out of her office.

So lost in thought that she didn't even hear Nyxeris get up or sense her move right up behind her. She only realized it when she heard the gunshot.

The asari slid to the ground, a bullet hole in the back of her head. She toppled down the stairs and landed at the bottom in a heap, fancy robes askew as crimson blood pooled around her.

"Looks like someone doesn't appreciate your efforts." John said from behind Liara. She turned to find him with a pistol in hand. Another one lay on the floor where Nyxeris had dropped, indicating that she'd literally just tried to assassinate her. "Be careful."

"I will." Liara promised, before continuing on.

She was so close, now. The recent assassination attempt had put her on notice and as she walked, she watched everyone who got within a meter of her. She didn't even take her own vehicle, deciding to call a cab.

One the cab arrived, Liara watched the turian who was driving, which she could tell the woman found unnerving. Liara didn't care. She'd survived the worst the galaxy could throw at her and she was about to die when she was so close to the Shadow Broker.

_And Ferron…_

She would've never have believed the drell was alive. Though she knew Cerberus was as shady an organization as there was, lying about his status would be both pointless and easily disproved.

When the cab let her out at her apartment complex, Liara was still deep in thought. She took the elevator up and entered her apartment, still piecing together how she'd do everything. Night had already fallen, casting the complex into darkness.

_I could just have John bull his way through this mission. _She conceded as she opened the door to her spacious apartment. _It's what he's best at._

She looked down at her robes and realized that she'd need to wear something else, if she was risking combat. She had just the thing.

_Business first._

They were words to live by, but words that Liara too often found herself repeating in recent months. Still, she headed for her terminal and pushed in an OSD just in case. She started typing and sent out a call for Sekat.

Within moments, the salarian responded, his face showing up on screen.

"Sekat." Liara told him without a moment for pleasantries, "Things are moving ahead of schedule. I need the information you have, now."

"Alright." He said, looking a little bit worried, "I'll need to see you in person at the Drakon Center. You know how things are, these days."

"Yes." Liara agreed, knowing he meant how dangerous things had become ever since he'd begun trying to find the Shadow Broker's haunt. "I'll be there soon."

She shut off the terminal and pulled the OST out. She turned off all the lights, then immediately headed over for one of her prothean artifacts and inserted it into a nearly invisible drive she had installed at the base. Finally, she set the picture of the Normandy at her bedside to react specifically to John's DNA. She reasoned that it was just good sense to set up clues, in case she got taken out of the hunt.

_If this were anybody but the Shadow Broker, _She thought grudgingly, _This would be paranoia._

Following that, she got dressed in a more combat-flexible outfit. The 'armor' was expensive, as most clothing that generated barriers were. She checked to make sure everything was in place before heading back out into her lounge.

Liara looked out the windows briefly and that's when the information broker saw her.

She was an asari, clad in heavy blue armor. Other than that, Liara couldn't make out details. She was lying prone on a rooftop across from the apartment. Liara could see something big and bulky in her hands, pointed her way.

She saw the flash at the same time she started moving. She heard the windows crack as the barriers she'd installed held the fire at bay. The second round pierced through, but Liara was already ready. She had a pistol in hand and was already glowing with energy.

She didn't honestly expect to beat a sharpshooter, but she knew the sniper was looking for a quick kill and not a flashy, attention-drawing fight.

Liara deactivated part of the window and sure enough, a round came whistling through.

_Come on. _She urged herself, _You've fought geth and even rachni. You can do this. _

As soon as the next round came through, Liara pushed a hand forward through the opening, releasing a writhing ball of biotics.

She watched the would-be assassin leap out of the way and raised her pistol. She began to fire at the figure.

There was audible cursing across the way and the figure retreated, unwilling to be caught in a battle.

Liara ran as well, raising her barriers in case the assassin decided to try again. No shot rang out as she barreled through the door. She didn't know how good the attacker was in close quarters, but wasn't willing to test someone hired by the Broker.

_John. _She silently pleaded to the human as she ran through the corridor and to the stairs. Her attacker would be expecting her to use the elevator and she'd be able to pick up a ride with a contact on one of the middle floors. _You better get my message._


	44. Chapter 44

_**Morinth – Omega**_

Morinth smiled as she looked around the dark club. The beats and the low lights all built a rhythm that she had long enjoyed. Everywhere she looked, she saw people dancing, bodies twisting to the dark rhythm.

Where most would see a club full of people trying to have fun and forget their woes, Morinth saw prey. She didn't just want any prey, though. She wanted the most dangerous prey she could find. Nothing quite excited her like killing a predator.

She had several prospects, so far. A pair of krogan were hanging out by the bar. She hadn't seen them do anything yet, unfortunately. However, in her experience, the only reason a krogan wasn't violent was because they were getting ready to be violent. A rather rough-looking turian drinking in the corner had proved an intrigue and there was a human woman in a Cerberus uniform that had just arrived.

_A chance to sleep with and kill someone from a terrorist organization. _She thought to herself. _There's a chance few get. _

Of course, very few (If anybody) in the club would realize that the woman was Cerberus. A few of their organization had attempted to capture Morinth once, undoubtedly for research. She'd destroyed them so thoroughly and violently that Cerberus had never come knocking on her door again.

She let out a smile that was much closer to a leer as she watched the Cerberus operative move to the dance floor, where a turian was harassing one of the dancers. Morinth watched as the Cerberus operative shoved the turian, who grew enraged. He swung on her and the operative ducked the swing before slamming the heel of her hand into the turian's side. Right where he lacked any armor.

The turian involuntarily bent over in pain and the woman brought her knee up, slamming it into the man's chin. The tur0ani reeled backwards and hit the floor before a krogan security guard joined them. He picked the man up and dragged his unconscious body out of the club.

Neither the shady-looking turian nor the krogan pair were doing anything interesting, so the asari continued watching the human.

She continued onwards to a corner, where one of the krogans were drinking. Morinth didn't get to hear the conversation as the woman leaned onto the bar, but could tell that it was a decidedly negative one.

That was right before the woman got up in the krogan's face, glaring him into submission.

Morinth found herself even more curious about this woman. Any human woman who could beat up a turian and glare a krogan into submission was a woman she had to have. She doubted anything more interesting was coming through that door. So she pushed herself out of her seat and headed for the Cerberus woman.

"Hey." She greeted, coming up behind the operative.

Jade-colored eyes met her own. Her hair, a feature Morinth had always found fascinating, was a red that reminded her of he neon of Omega. The hair traveled down to the human's surprisingly toned shoulders.

On that note, the woman was _very _well built. Clearly, the woman either spent a lot of time in a gym or a lot of time in combat. From the way she'd dominated the turian, Morinth guessed that it was the latter.

"I've been watching you from over there." She said, indicating her booth. "Name's Morinth. I'd like to chat, if you don't mind."

She wouldn't refuse. They never refused. She saw the primal attraction in the human's eyes even before the woman answered.

"Okay." Was all she said.

_She's mine._

Morinth gently grabbed her by the hand and led her away from the crowds and into her the rhythms still pushing through her veins, she concentrated long enough to start the conversation.

"What's your name?" Morinth asked.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance."

That was a name that Morinth (like most of the galaxy), knew very well. She was a hero in many circles and even the Ardat-Yakshi was impressed with her list of achievements. While Morinth typically would've immediately dragged a woman of that caliber up to her room, she was interested to hear the Commander's story.

_I'll be seducing and killing a hero. _She thought to herself delightedly, _I'm already getting turned on just thinking about it._

Morinth focused again, much easier with the bestial and primal urges suppressed. She smiled that predatory smile of hers as she looked at the war hero.

"I know that name." Morinth said, "You're quite famous around the Terminus, Commander. You've done a lot of killing."

"It gets more exciting each time." The woman answered eagerly, her eyes shining with glee. "Violence is the most pleasurable means to an end."

Morinth smirked, feeling her trap close around the Commander.

"You travel a lot?" She asked, honestly curious about the adventures the Commander must've seen. While she typically didn't get too close to her prey, she couldn't miss an opportunity to hear the stories before she killed the woman.

"Pretty much everywhere." The Commander answered with a shrug, shifting so as to make herself more comfortable. "Nuking planets in the Traverse, killing geth around the Terminus Systems…I get around."

Morinth slid in next to the woman, trying her best to contain herself. She laced a hand around the Marine's waist. The woman smelled of some sort of sweet scent that made Morinth a little bit hungry.

"How many have you killed?" Morinth whispered in the woman's ear.

"Hundreds." The Commander answered immediately, tilting her head so that her hard green gaze met Morinth's icy blue. "Maybe over a thousand. You lose count around twenty."

Morinth laughed, running a hand under the Commander's shirt and feeling her way up the muscled stomach until her fingers brushed something stringy and misshapen. She looked down to find a gruesome wound there, stitched up and still in the process of healing.

"What did that?" Morinth wondered, running a finger delicately along the wound, admiring the discolored skin.

"Team of mercs." The woman answered immediately, "Killed all four of them, but one of them had a knife. Not my worst injury."

"Woman like you must have somebody waiting for them back home." Morinth pointed out innocently. "Alliance Marine?"

"No." Shepard said a little too quickly. It was a lie, one Morinth had been fed countless times over her years of stalking and hunting people. "Nobody."

"It's okay." Morinth assured her, having played this game before. "Tell me about him."

"Turian." The woman answered, staring into nothing as a smile touched her lips. Morinth was surprised by the admission. Turians and humans weren't exactly on the best of terms since First Contact. "Strong, with a voice that would send shivers up your spine."

"Don't worry, Shepard." Morinth replied, lowering her lips to the Commander's. Just as they were about to make contact, Shepard surprised the Ardat-Yakshi by turning her head and pointedly not locking lips with her.

This had happened on several occasions. Some people, no matter how hard she tried to seduce them, would not be able to overcome certain societal inclinations. Romantic shows were not a public act in some cultures. In the military culture, those acts became viewed as unprofessional. Given how hardcore military the woman was, it was doubtful that she was able to overcome that block.

"I…can't." Shepard whispered, looking back up at her. "Not here."

Morinth smiled, the predatory look coming back. She had the hero dancing to her tune, ready to do anything for her. She knew that this night would be one she'd never forget, a night of fatal passion with the great Commander Shepard.

"I've got a place nearby and I want you alone." Morinth said, pulling her hand out of the Commander's shirt, "Come with me."

She grabbed Shepard by the hand and gently pulled her out of the booth, not even bothering to pay for the drinks. Nobody would stop her.

As she entered the corridor to the entrance of the club, Morinth felt the strangest sensation. It was as if someone was watching her. She straightened and turned, scanning the mass of writhing bodies and dim lights. She couldn't see anything.

"Something wrong, Morinth?" The Commander asked. Morinth felt a hand slide down to her backside and squeeze. Morinth whirled on the Commander, surprised at the sudden boldness.

Despite her misgivings, she felt so incredibly aroused that nothing would stop her from leaving the club with the Alliance hero.

"Nothing." Morinth told her, tugging the woman away towards the doors.

The walk to her apartment was short and quiet. Morinth had picked the apartment due to its close proximity to the club. It made it easier for her to reel them in. The walk was silent, but laden with sexual tension and unspoken promises.

The apartment was just as Morinth left it. Paraphernalia was scattered about the spacious (by Omega's standards) apartment. Most of them were items she'd either taken or received from her victims over the hundreds of years.

She usually spent time with her prey, looking over each object and telling them a story. They were trophies that she was proud to show off.

Not tonight, though. The woman she was about to bond with was one of the (if not _the_) most dangerous people in the galaxy. Morinth's body was burning with desire and she wanted release quickly.

So she led the Marine to her couch and pulled the woman down with her. Green eyes met her own in surprise, but the surprise was eclipsed by the overwhelming sensual desire. Morinth smiled.

"It's safe here, Shepard." Morinth told her. "Is that what you want? Safety?"

"Safety is a lie." Shepard declared, the woman smirking, "There is no safety, only who's strongest."

"I agree." Morinth answered, "I never understood the fascination with safety. Why have safety when there is adventure and violence waiting around every corner."

Morinth almost sighed when she realized that it was time to kill the Marine. She wanted her release more than anything, but the individual before her was unique.

"Look into my eyes." Morinth ordered, letting a little bit of her power flow through her words. The Commander craned her head up, looking at the Ardat-Yakshi with eyes wide. "Tell me you'd kill for me. Anything I'd ask."

Morinth saw the typical moment of fight, where her basic instincts lost against her arousal and Morinth's own power. The fight was followed by something very unusual. The Commander's eyes turned resolute.

"No." Was all the Commander said.

Morinth was shocked out of her mantra, her eyes widening as she processed the fact that the first being had said 'no' to her in the centuries that she'd been killing.

"Wha-How…" Morinth started, utterly perplexed. Then it dawned on her.

There was no way the human would've been able to repel her, unless she'd known what was coming. There were two people who knew her secret. The obvious choice would be Cerberus, due to the Commander's uniform, but this was not quite direct enough when compared to the usual acts of the terrorist group. That left only one other option.

"I see." Morinth answered, her honey-laden voice turning bitter and sour. "The bitch herself has found a helper."

The words were punctuated when the door suddenly exploded inwards, slamming against the wall and surrounded by a bright blue haze. Not much to her surprise, her mother followed the violent eruption.

Mother looked the same as she always had. She stood proudly and regally in her rather revealing uniform, her eyes laden with the same kind of world-weary and resolute expression she'd seen in the eyes of burned-out veterans across the galaxy.

There were no words spoken. Her mother lifted a hand and Morinth suddenly found herself lifted into the air and slammed into the glass. The reinforced glass didn't break, but she did hear cracking under her back as the breath was driven out of her.

Morinth was far from disabled, though. She planted her feet and hands against the glass as she fought the biotics, the sheer power of her mother's centuries of training and combat met by centuries of stalking and killing.

"Mother." She seethed, looking into the woman's eyes.

"Do not call me that!" Samara exclaimed. The raised voice was one that she'd never heard her mother use. There was a renewed wave of power, but Morinth was gathering her own power.

"I can't stop being your daughter, mother." Morinth answered, just before she threw a hand out and directed her biotics at Samara. The Justicar stumbled back and Morinth dropped to the ground, already preparing another attack.

A sword detached from the wall and headed straight for her mother. Samara had recovered enough the she was able to dodge the projectile, grab the handle and slam it into the ground point-first. The blade broke, rendering the weapon useless.

"You made your choice long ago." Samara answered evenly.

Morinth grabbed a nearby futon and hurled it, catching her mother across the face and tossing the matriarch to the floor.

"What choice?!" Morinth raged, anger welling within her. "My only choice was being born with the gifts you gave me!"

The second sword lifted from the wall and hurtled towards her mother. This one was met by biotic force and flung aside, but it left Samara open for another blast of energy, which forced the Justicar backwards.

"Enough, Morinth!" Samara yelled, taking to her feet. Morinth felt the prickling on her skin that informed her that her mother was gathering all the power she had. Morinth quickly gathered her own, feeling her entire body tingle from the immense energy.

They unleashed it as one, the forces meeting in the middle and creating a singularity so powerful that it lifted all of the contents of the room and sent them floating about in a way that would've been peaceful at another time.

"Shepard!" Samara cried, the Justicar looking past Morinth.

Morinth nearly froze in terror. In the excitement of the fight, which had been centuries in the making, Morinth had forgotten all about the battle-hardened soldier she'd attempted to seduce. The Ardat-Yakshi looked over to find the woman striding towards her.

Morinth was trapped. If she moved, her mother would blast her. If she didn't, Shepard would kill her.

Her indecision cost her when Shepard grabbed her roughly by the wrist and yanked it upwards, stopping the flow of biotics. Her mother's own push, now unimpeded, slammed into the Ardat-Yakshi and sent her flying.

She hit the floor roughly, unable to get her breath back. She felt impossibly weak, drained after all of the biotics. She tried to recover, but her mother was on her in an instant.

The Justicar grabbed her by the throat. Morinth looked up to her mother, finding the same strong woman that she'd always known. In the woman's eyes, however she saw regret and anguish. She saw pain. It was probably the only emotion she'd ever shown in all the time Morinth had known her.

"Find peace in the embrace of the Goddess." Samara recited as tears started to roll down her cheeks and that familiar blue energy gathered around her fist.

The last thing Morinth ever saw was that fist coming for her face.


End file.
